Water Governance in Alto Mayo basin, Peru: Bringing aboard stakeholders with the Freshwater Health Index
Abstract
Alto Mayo is an Andean-Amazon basin in Peru with near-pristine condition yet, where continuing conversion of forest to agriculture has increased pressure on sustainable exploitation of water resources. The connection the residents hold with nature in the basin allows for a higher level of engagement for integrated watershed management. However, water governance can be ineffective if stakeholder involvement is not inclusive and lacks clarity on the use of engagement processes' input. We applied the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) capable of characterizing freshwater systems as dynamic socio-ecological networks while quantifying human water uses, the effects of these uses on freshwater systems and, the role that governance and stakeholder play in sustainable and equitable delivery of water-based services to the Alto Mayo context with the aim of improving stakeholder engagement and water governance. Critical to this process was the FHI's Governance and Stakeholder component allowing to address a broader range of actors and aspects of governance in a systematic way through: (1) application of a survey to quantitatively examine aspects related to enabling environment (policies, regulations and market mechanisms), stakeholder engagement (participation, transparency and accountability), vision and adaptive governance (planning and monitoring), and effectiveness (implementation, enforcement, and outcomes) and (2) application of a quantitative weighting exercise to prioritize ecosystem services and aspects of governance. The framework proved useful in facilitating discussions among different water resource management sectors, which was key to address issues of concern in the Alto Mayo collectively. Quantitatively, the FHI analysis showed that governance and stakeholder engagement are moderately poor for Alto Mayo and allowed to pin point specific aspects that require more attention, e.g., financial capacity and distribution of benefits from ecosystem services. By using stakeholder's input directly through all stages of the index construction, the application of the tool in Alto Mayo highlights that the FHI is a step forward towards greater water governance inclusiveness and effective stakeholder engagement.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.H21Q1940O
- Keywords:
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- 1880 Water management;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 6319 Institutions;
- POLICY SCIENCESDE: 6344 System operation and management;
- POLICY SCIENCESDE: 6620 Science policy;
- PUBLIC ISSUES