Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

L A K E T I T I C A C A B A S I N , B O L I V I A A N D P E R U / 4 7 7Lake management shows a good degree of adjustment to the firsttwo points. However, promotion of human development within thesystem has had a low level of success due to the difficulty ofovercoming basic poverty in the area.Identifying Critical ProblemsChallenges related to uncertainty and variability ofthe resourceAgriculture is the principal economic activity in the TDPS system. Assuch, and given the general poverty in the area, it is particularlyvulnerable to such extreme events as drought and flood. Thefarmers’ survival strategy is thus to diversify their crops in the hopeof minimizing risks derived from resource variability.Although water regulation works in Lake Titicaca have brought adegree of protection against floods, they are effective only during arelatively normal hydrological cycle. Floods have a significant impacton the economy of the area. Although there is no risk of humanlosses, due to the slow rise of flood waters, the economic damageover a ten-year period has been estimated at US$890,000 foragriculture, animal raising and infrastructure. In addition, flood lossesover a twenty-five-year period are estimated at US$1,506,000.These are huge amounts given the region’s extreme poverty.Vulnerability to drought is high and in addition to the economiclosses associated with an extremely dry year, drought also causesloss of genetic diversity in native varieties, and thus farmers areforced to buy imported seeds for the following years. There is noavailable information about losses due to drought events.Hail and frost cause significant agricultural losses. In the case offrost, Lake Titicaca acts as thermal insulation. Away from the lake,however, and at higher latitudes, frost increases can cover over 300days a year.Water salinity increases to the south. It severely limits the soil’sagricultural capacity. At the extreme south of the system, the highlysaline soils have formed the Coipasa Salt Lake.Challenges associated with needs, uses and demandsAs previously mentioned, sewage discharge from the urban centresin the basin has resulted in organic contamination of the area. Thetropical situation of Lake Titicaca, the high levels of solar radiationand the high rate of evaporation make the system very vulnerable,particularly to pollution problems. In contrast, the size of the waterbody helps to maintain pollution at acceptable levels, althoughthere are some eutrophication problems close to the coastalvillages. In addition, there are also problems relating to heavy metalcontamination, resulting from mining activities in the zone.Management-related problemsAlthough the ALT provides a regulatory framework to bothcountries, each nation has specific approaches to watermanagement, with no provision for the disparities between them.This lack discourages private investment in the sector, whileencouraging poor valuation of the water resource. The nature ofthe resource as an economic, social or mixed asset has not as yetbeen defined at the regional or national levels. Because of this, itbecomes impossible to allocate installation, maintenance ortreatment costs for water systems of any kind. In May 2002, theInterinstitutional Water Council (CONIAG) was created in Bolivia withthe mission of reforming the legal, institutional and technicalframework of the water sector.There is, however, work ahead to attain a better integration ofcommunity organizations into the management model with the aimof ensuring that the ALT will have higher levels of representation.At present, due to the social and economic instability in bothcountries, there is no appropriate political climate in which to reachcommunity consensus.Problems affecting ecosystemsMining activity, overharvesting and pollution from urban centres allput pressure on the natural resources of the TDPS system.During the 1980s a regional economic depression diminishedmining activity in the area and the level of poverty increased. It wasexacerbated by drought and floods, and resulted in increased ruralto urban migration. The subsequent depopulation of rural areas,together with a stagnating mining sector have all greatly relievedthe pressures on natural resources. However, pollution in urbancentres has visibly increased. It is difficult to predict the future withregard to environmental stress and ecosystem health, as so muchdepends on the general levels of poverty in both countries.Other problemsDifferences between indigenous and Western cultural patterns makeit difficult to adopt new agricultural technology, improve productionand establish efficient market systems. Associated with thesedifficulties is the prevailing land ownership model. At present, ruralproperty is fragmented into numerous small plots that are thendivided through inheritance into still smaller plots. This modelprevents farmers from making the transition to a more efficient andagricultural production and, combined with current land legislation,makes the existence of a real estate market virtually impossible, allof which adds to the structural poverty.