Dominican Republic

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Dominican Republic

• Development of an Integrated System of Water
  Accounts as an Opportunity for Integrated Water
  Resources Management and Water Governance
• Presented by Olga LUCIANO-LÓPEZ
• olga.luciano_at_verizon.net.do
• The Netherlands, May 2006.

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Florida
Cuba
Haiti
South America
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Context

• Water legislation in the Dominican Republic is
  not updated according to the guiding principles
  for water management agreed in Dublin, Rio, and
  Johannesburg between 1992 and 2002.
• This legislation is fragmented and sector biased.
• The institutional framework derived from the
  existing legislation is also fragmented and
  complex.

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Context

• Under the existing framework, different
  institutions share responsibility for
• Policy decision-making
• Issuing permits
• Provision of water services (aqueducts,
  irrigation channels, dams and hydropower plants).

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Context

• Although some consensus has been built around
  important issues related with water management,
  attempts to pass a new water law based on IWRM
  and the separation of roles have not been
  successful.
• The approval of the environment law and the
  creation of the Ministry of the Environment in
  2000 was a major step forward for integrating
  environment management policies.

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Context

• In particular the mandate to develop a national
  information system on the environment and natural
  resources, and to mainstream environment in the
  national accounting system opened the doors to
  important initiatives geared towards
  inter-institutional coordination.

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The indicators process

• In 2002, assisted by UN ECLAC, the Ministry of
  the Environment embarked in the process of
  developing sustainable development indicators,
  based on an inter-institutional cooperative
  approach.
• Through training activities organized by ECLAC,
  observation visits in the region, and an
  internship in INEGI and SEMARNAT in Mexico, the
  formation of a basic core of environment
  statistitians has begun.
• By June 2003 formal contacts had been established
  with international cooperation and important
  decissions were taken in order to
• Prioritize indicators by benefit/cost analysis
  and for policy decission-making
• Start with a cross-cutting issue like water
• Use the process to encourage inter-institutional
  coordination

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The indicators process

• July 2004
• With the collaboration of 15 institutions the
  Ministry of Environment published a compilation
  of 82 environment statistics, each with metadata
  and existing databases, out of a common list of
  108 suggested by the REDESA project leaded by
  ECLAC.
• This was very instrumental in convincing other
  institutions of the seriousness of the process.

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Stakeholders involvement

• A workshop held in December 2004 with the support
  of ECLAC and the local GTZ representation
  resulted in the establishment of three
  inter-institutional task forces for the
  development of indicators on
• Water availability
• Water quality
• Watershed management

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Stakeholders involvement

• Representatives from the Central Bank and the
  National Statistics Office joined the task
  forces.
• This gave birth to the idea of moving beyond
  statistics and indicators and seek technical
  assistance for the development of a water
  accounting system.

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Stakeholders involvement

• At around the same time a very important task was
  assigned to the Ministry of the Environment to
  chair the national effort to comply with MDG 7
  and to develop a comprehensive proposal to
  achieve each of its targets, including target 10.
• The progress made on statistics/indicators proved
  to be very useful to comply with this task.

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Stakeholders involvement

• In March 2005 a workshop facilitated by UNSD
  expert Alessandra Alfieri and two experts from
  ECLAC accelerated the process.
• The workshop raised awareness on the complexity
  of the task, but at the same time strengthened
  the commitment of the institutions to move
  forward.

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Stakeholders involvement

• Under the basic idea of promoting IWRM and
  strengthen the country capacity to define
  policies and regulatory measures for water
  management, an agreement was signed by 12
  institutions in June 2005
• to develop an integrated water monitoring and
  information system composed of statistics,
  accounts, and indicators and
• to mainstream environment into the System of
  National Accounts, starting by a satellite water
  account.

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Stakeholders involvement

• The agreement involve the Ministry of the
  Environment and Natural Resources, the Central
  Bank, the National Statistics and Meteorological
  Offices, the National Institute for Hydraulic
  Resources, National Institute for Drinking Water
  and Sewage, the Dominican Corporation of State
  Electric Enterprises, and five Drinking Water and
  Sanitation Corporations.
• They have all agreed to share the institutional
  information they posess (on the economy and on
  water) and to provide technical support to the
  process.

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Governance issues and success factors

• Political support at the highest level made it
  possible for the process to survive a change in
  government administration (Aug. 2004)
• Technical leadership in the Ministry of the
  Environment, recognized by other stakeholders
• Identification of a critical issue as water,
  which brings together multiple stakeholders at
  national and international level
• Open and participatory nature of the process
• Ownership of the process by the technical staff
  of different institutions
• Intellingent use of cooperation and training
  opportunities.

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Conclusions

• The legislative path proved to be complicated and
  difficult stakeholders could not see clearly
  what they could gain but feared what they could
  lose.
• The building-up of an integrated water
  information system seemed harmless for water
  management stakeholders and they were attracted
  by the involvement of a major player in high
  policy-making as the Central Bank.
• Can water accounts become an opportunity for
  Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)?

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THANK YOU!