Dominican Republic
Challenges and Opportunities for the Development of an
Integrated System of Environmental and Economic
Accounts, Starting with Water Accounts
Presented by Olga LUCIANO LÓPEZ
oluciano@ceiba.gov.do
Background
The mandate in the environment legislation (Law
64 of year 2000) to develop a national
information system on the environment and
natural resources, and to mainstream
environment in the national accounting system
motivated an application of technical assistance
to the UN Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean –ECLAC from the
Ministry of the Environment.
Background
ECLAC suggested to start with sustainable
development indicators in a parallel effort with Puerto
Rico, whose environment authority had also applied for
assistance.
In December 2002 a binational seminar was organized
in Puerto Rico with a broad participation of technicians
from both countries. The Dominican delegation was
integrated by the Ministry of the Environment, the
National Planning Office, and the National Statistics
Office. This participation was possible thanks to the aid
of UNDP and the German cooperation agency GTZ.
Background
The Binational Seminar was a milestone event in many respects:
– Raised consciousness on the theoretical basis of environment indicators and
specialized environment statistics;
– Showed the methodological advances attained under ECLAC’s ESALC project
aimed at assessing environmental sustainability in LAC;
– Familiarized us with the experiences of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile.
– Represented a joint effort between the environmental authorities of Puerto Rico
and the Dominican Republic, as well as ECLAC, UNDP, and GTZ.
– Facilitated the strengthening of institutional links between the Dominican Ministry
of the Environment and the National Planning and Statistica Offices;
– Motivated the Ministry of the Environment to make an initial diagnosis to assess
the state of relevant information on Sustainable Development Indicators, using as
a guide the indicators list proposed by UN Commission on Sustainable
Development;
– It gave birth to an interinstitutional national commitment and a work plan to
develop Sustainable Development Indicators
Background
After the binational seminar:
– A national steering committee was established to
lead the process;
– Technical meetings were held regularly with the
support of UNDP, and particularly GTZ;
– Criteria were unified, thematic areas were selected,
and priorities were set. A decission was made to link
this process to the compliance with Millenium
Development Goals.
Weaknesses and opportunities
– Technical meetings served to expose our capacity weaknesses
and this served to develop an aggressive plan of taking advantage
of all training and cooperation opportunities in the country and
abroad.
– As a result, a fair group of technicians has been trained in
environment statistics, indicators, and GIS;
– The diagnosis on the status of environment information was
completed;
– The inventory of available technological resources was completed
and a proposal was developed to launch an interconected
environment information system, using existing capabilities;
– In this process we joined the REDESA project, a network of social
and environment statistics experts and institutions headed by
ECLAC.
Opportunities
– In June 2003 the advances in the indicators process were
presented to an existing donnors table (on environment and
natural resources) coordinated by GTZ. This served to
broaden the perspective and to reach some important
decissions:
• To connect indicators with public policies so that they become support
tools for decission-making;
• To use the process to encourage interinstitutional coordination;
• To prioritize indicators by benefit/cost analysis and in this respect to
start with the development of water resources indicators in the
framework of the methodological approach proposed by ECLAC’s
ESALC project;
– The selection of water indicators as the starting point considered
that water is a cross-cutting issue for environment and natural
resources management and as such it could involve a wide
range of stakeholders; this has proven right in light of recent
advancements.
Progress made
In parallel and in support of the indicators process we
started to organize environment statistics. The result is
that
- Guided by a common list of 108 environment statistics
suggested by REDESA, we have completed the first stage of
the development of an environment statistics system. A
publication of June 2004 presents a compilation of some 82
environment statistics, with their methodological sheets, and
existing databases. This effort involved 15 national
institutions. In the next months we expect to issue a second
publication in which the initial compilation is enriched.
Progress made
• Starting in December 2004
– Three task forces have been established for the development
of water indicators
• One on water availability (quantity)
• One on water quality
• One on watersheds
– Each group has deliverd results in April 2005: methodological
sheets are completed, databases and information voids have
been identified, several indicators are already developed. In
the next few months, before publication, a quality
assessment will be made by an expert.
Progress made
• We benefited from the indicators effort headed in the
region by UNEP and Costa Rica MOE in the framework
of ILAC, the initiative for sustainable development
launched in 2002 by the Forum of Environment
Ministers in LAC.
– This facilitated the assistance given to the MDG7 task force
created in January 2005 by the Dominican Government,
under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment, to
identify base lines, trends, and interventions/actions
necessary for the Dominican Republic compliance with
MDG’s.
New developments
– Since December 2004 a new and important stakeholder has joined our efforts: the
DR Central Bank. This gave birth to the idea of moving beyond statistics and
indicators and seek technical assistance for the development of a water
accounting system.
– In March 2005 a major step was taken: a workshop facilitated by UNSD expert
Alessandra Alfieri and two experts from ECLAC accelerated our process. This
workshop enlightened us on the complexity of the task, but at the same time
strengthened our commitment to move forward.
– Formal contacts have been established with UNSD since then and a technical
assistance petition has been formalized.
– In June 7, just a few days ago, a technical cooperation agreement was signed by
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 Sanitation, The Dominican
Corporation of State Electric Enterprises, and five Drinking Water and Sanitation
Corporations, to develop an integrated System of National Environmental and
Economic Accounts, with emphasis on Water Accounts. (These 12 institutions
have agreed to share the institutional information available on water management
and use, and to provide technical support to the process).
Lessons learned so far
Success factors:
- Political support at the highest level. This has permitted 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 Dominican technicians from
different institutions
- Intelligent use of all cooperation and training opportunities, which
has brought new momentum to the process.
Challenges
- To brake a culture of lack of coodination and information
sharing among public institutions
- To involve private stakeholders from the business sector,
civil society and academia, in order to strengthen the
public partnership that was sealed with the agreement
signed in June 2005
- To overcome the major technical challenges that lie ahead
- To be able to utilize the integrated environment and
economic accounts system for policy decission-making,
and as a tool for integrated water resources management.
THANK YOU!