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@verizon.net.do
The Netherlands, May 2006.
Florida
Cuba
Haiti
South America
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.
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)?
THANK YOU!