Lake Chapala Basin, Mexico: linking Sub-basins as an Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) Strategy.

Transcription

1 Lake Chapala Basin, Mexico: linking Sub-basins as an Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) Strategy. Alejandro Juarez-Aguilar Corazón de la Tierra, A.C. Guadalajara City, Mexico Abstract: Lake Chapala it s Mexico s biggest natural body of water. Its basin has been severely overexploited along the 20 th and 21 st Centuries generating strong environmental stress both for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Since 2006 diverse institutions have tried to create a coincidental framework to push forward a management based in ILBM principles. The most delicate part of it has been creation of a common ground and structuring of dialogue conditions, given the long story of stakeholders conflicts. Taking the approach of fostering the strength of sub-basin processes with an integration scheme at medium term, an ILBM analysis and planning workshop was organized on December, 2009, in Morelia City, located in the Lerma-Chapala basin. 74 people from 46 institutions attended the workshop, with 5 five sub-basins represented in the activity. Taking as reference the particular stakeholders and the outcomes and challenges already identified in each sub-basin, an on-going process of experience exchange and common goals was created, highlighting the importance of continual development using ILBM as a moving approach. This workshop was derived from 2008 s First Latin-American Workshop on ILBM held in Chapala city, which allowed the integration of a follow-up group with precise goals to be reached during , including the mentioned Morelia s workshop. Keywords: Chapala, ILBM, Sub-basins, stakeholders. Introduction: Lake Chapala and its Basin Lake Chapala is the largest Mexico s natural body of water, it s located at 1525 meters above sea level, with a maximum storage capacity of 7,897 hm³ and a surface of 114,000 hectares (1). Lake Chapala is a shallow body of water, with 8 meters of media deep (2). Lake Chapala it s located in the middle of the Lerma River-Lake Chapala-Santiago River watershed (the most important and exploited in Mexico), which for management purposes has been administratively split by national government: the Lerma-Chapala basin and the Santiago River basin. The workshop reported in this paper was mainly directed to the Lerma-Chapala basin ( km²) which comprises 19 subbasins (3). Natural water flow into the lake has been strongly affected derived from several human uses. There are 552 medium and big size dams allocated in the basin and long sections of Lerma river (the most important incoming source) are often quite dry during the non-rainy season. Linked to years of scarce rain, lake s tendency to fluctuations has been increasing, making them more frequent and severe. Lake Chapala diminished to 14.41% of volume storage in 2002 and recovered only due to extraordinaire rainy seasons during Water in the Lerma-Chapala basin serves a wide variety of uses (agricultural irrigation, urban and industrial uses). This liquid is used by the two most important cities in the country, Mexico City (upper basin) and Guadalajara City (lower basin), both external basin users. Five states and almost 300 municipalities share the basin territory This diversity of uses and stakeholders frequently has

2 generated struggles for water and has generated difficulties to create integrative and useful management plans. Lake Chapala plays a core role in regional weather control, favoring maintenance of 9 different vegetation types and providing habitat for 50,000 migratory birds during winter, being considered a priority wetland by several institutions (4) and having Ramsar status since February, Also has an extraordinaire fish endemism (severely damaged during last 50 years) and strong tourism potential, which is, until now, only partially developed. Other problems affecting this aquatic ecosystem are invasive species (mojarra fish), weed infestation, run-off deposits; pollution derived from agrochemicals, cattle excrement and cities waste water. Main pollutants are phosphorus, nitrogen and organic matter. Heavy metals (mercury, chrome, lead and arsenic, mostly), even if in minor proportion, are also found in several areas of the lake (5). Since 1955 federal government have made five attempts to create and apply basin management plans, none of them resulting successful in high proportion derived from their narrow technical approach, with very little social involvement in the integration process. Another strong factor has been that water it s understood and managed as a good, something to distribute to create human wellbeing, isolating the fact that water it s also important to maintenance of ecosystem processes which themselves serve a wide variety of services for human population. Linked to the outlined situation it s necessary to mention the poor involvement of population in conservation and land management issues (6). At the basin level there have been few management advances, but at the sub-basin level there are interesting processes with different development grades, depending on particular circumstances and stakeholders. These experiences have strong potential, if linked, to generate conditions to achieve an ILBM for the entire watershed. The sub-basin approach in the Lerma-Chapala basin The potential of sub-basins approach has been understood and fostered by several institutions, being the most important the National Institute of Ecology (INE, a federal agency dedicated to environmental research) through Helena Colter, head of the Integrated Basin Management Office. INE conducted a federal agencies workshop (2008) to identify which ones of the 19 sub-basins in the Lerma-Chapala basin could be classified as priority, recognizing that financial resources are scarce and that it s necessary concentrate efforts in areas with on-going processes instead of using them widely. INE organized a sharing-experience workshop during June th 2009, which allowed direct contact of 50 participants from four of the priority sub-basins, in an attempt to compare processes, identify useful patterns, common challenges and strategies (7). As part of the workshop an ILBM experience in Sub-basin Chapala (a priority one) was presented by Corazon de la Tierra, a Mexican civil society organization (CSO) interested into foster ILBM in Mexico as a practical tool to solve Lerma-Chapala socio-economic problematic. This institution, alongside with eight agencies and universities from Jalisco State (located in the lower basin) were working together for a year following ILBM principles, derived from a commitment list defined in The Chapala Statement 2008, resulting document of the First Latin- American Workshop on ILBM (8), which was held from November nd, 2008, to provide training to 37 participants directly from ILEC (International Lake Environment Committee Foundation) members, institution that created and promotes worldwide this management approach (8). As part of the workshop several ways to apply ILBM were discussed, including networking and integration of projects. Among the acquired commitments of the follow-up group there was included organizing an annual meeting to review advances and challenges of the Lerma-Chapala process, particularly related to reaching the mentioned commitments. That s were both processes, the one derived from 2008 s

3 ILBM workshop and the one coming from INE s sub-basin approach came together as an integrative opportunity to grow faster and firmly putting together both efforts. ILBM directed to sub-basins strengthening The ILBM Lerma-Chapala Basin Planning Workshop was held on December 3 rd and 4 th in Morelia City, Michoacan State. It took one year of planning and work to put it together, counting in the organizing committee with the Secretary of Urbanism and Environment of Michoacan State (SUMA), Corazon de la Tierra and ILEC, with additional financial support from Shiga University, Japan. It was attended by 74 people from 37 institutions (universities, municipalities, federal and state agencies, civil society organizations and funding agencies) with outcomes overcoming initial expectations. There were five sub-basins represented (2 from Michoacan State, 2 from Guanajuato State and 1 from Jalisco State) and presence of INE officers, in order to give continuity to their involvement. Methodological structure included an ILBM presentation at the international level (proposals, advances and challenges) given by Dr. Masahisa Nakamura, Director of ILEC s Scientific Committee, followed by a presentation of ILBM potential as a practical tool for the Lerma-Chapala basin. Then advances in that field derived from the First Latin-American Workshop on ILBM s commitments were presented, highlighting the integration of a follow-up group which transformed the Chapala Statement 2008 contents into projects which already were being advanced, some in great degree. The concrete commitments derived from 2008 s workshop were: General: Generation and operation of a task network to maintain an exchange of data, to share experiences and contribute knowledge in a rapid and effective manner to continue ILBM development in Latin America. For the Santiago River basin: 1) Produce a guide of responsibilities and attributions of the institutions in order to orient stakeholders on how to request information, facilitate decision-making and reduce conflicts. 2) Support and encourage strengthening of CSOs internal structures. 3) Draw up a list of research topics to avoid duplicity and overlapping and assuring the practical application of research findings. For the Lerma-Chapala Basin: 1) Create specific alliances to involve the different stakeholders in structuring and applying an action plan for the direct Lake Chapala sub-basin. 2) Promote the creation of an Environmental Education Center and a center for documentary research. 3) Organize an annual general meeting. 4) Integrate a descriptive case study of Lake Chapala. 5) ILEC assumed a commitment to promote the case of the Lerma-Chapala watershed as an ILBM focal point for Latin America. Speakers from Corazon de la Tierra, SEMADES, the Fund for Development of Central-Western Mexico (FIDERCO) and the Human Rights Commission of Jalisco State (CEDHJ) presented

4 particular advancements of those topics, complemented with information provided both by Dr. Nakamura and Dr. Walter Rast, Vice- Director of ILEC s Scientific Committee. All together, the reported advances were these: 1) A functional task network was created (the follow-up group allocated in Sub-basin Chapala) using ILBM as guidance. ILEC and INE worked as strong supporting institutions. 2) In the Lerma-Chapala level contacts with other sub-basins were established through INE s workshop, also close contacts were made with Michoacan State groups and different federal institutions. 3) At the Latin America level an ILBM workshop is being organized in Argentina, by Los Algarrobos (a CSO), being scheduled for August, ) For Santiago River basin, CEDHJ integrated a macro-recommendation directed to 17 government agencies with very particular comments, asking answers by law about their projects and responsibilities for the river sanitation and ecological restoration. This recommendation was presented on February, 2009 being answered by 15 institutions which are complimenting their roles in different degree. 5) Relating to Lake-Chapala basin, a very strong step was the on-going process of creating the Lake Chapala Management Program, supported by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) at the federal level, within the Mexican Ramsar Sites program. This Management program is scheduled to be finished in March, It is being integrated by two CSOs, The Environmental Rights Institute (IDEA) and Corazon de la Tierra, with direct monitoring from SEMADES.. 6) A Center of Environmental Culture was opened in Chapala City in November, 2009, through a collaboration agreement between Corazon de la Tierra and the Water Commission of Jalisco State (CEA). One of the activities already organized was the Migratory Birds Festival (November) for Lake Chapala, as part of a biggest initiative conducted by University of Guadalajara and SEMADES. 7) FIDERCO created the Water Information System for Central-Western Mexico, which includes both research papers available on internet and a researcher directory. It s access free, directly in the webpage 8) The Lake Chapala Brief is in preparation process, it will be feed with information from the Lake Management Program. Tentatively will be ready for June, ) ILEC selected Lerma-Chapala watershed case as ILBM focal point for Latin America, which has been presented in the ILBM-Governance Meetings held in March, 2009 in Kusatsu, Japan; and in November, 2009 in Wuhan, China, as a complementary event of the 13rd World Lake Conference. 10) Finally, organizing this workshop fulfilled one of the commitment points. After these presentations cases of other Sub-basins were made: Lake Cuitzeo and Lake Patzcuaro (Michoacan state); and Turbio River and Laja River (Guanajuato state). All of them showed their particular processes, stakeholders, problems and solutions, helping to understand the wide variety of approaches currently being used, all pointing to the need of integrative views to complement gaps and cement long term outcomes. The most challenging part in all cases was stakeholder participation, given the conflictive uses that all of mentioned bodies of water faced: irrigation, fisheries, urban consumption, industry and cattle breeding. Pollution was another common point, being particularly intense in cases like Turbio River, which receives tannery wastewater, heavily charged with arsenic. The third common point was difficulty to promote and consolidate integrated management, securing long term policies despite administrative changes. Related this issue several approaches were used in each sub-basin, using common ground construction (Sub-basin Chapala),

5 articulated and participative integration (Sub-basin Patzcuaro), and government-guided structure (Turbio River). After presentations finished it was clear that many commons points were shared by all cases, condition that surprised several participants, most of them revealing that didn t know much about what was going on other sub-basins, even being closely located. With this shared knowledge several working tables were formed to answer three generating questions : What are the challenges to reach ILBM in your sub-basin? Which would be the key factors to foster ILBM in your sub-basin? What common points can be identified between the analyzed sub-basins? To aboard these matters four groups were formed. Sub-basins Chapala, Cuitzeo and Patzcuaro had enough people to work on the mentioned issues, while Turbio River and Laja River formed another group altogether with members of federal agencies and researchers who do their assignments in several parts of the country. Conclusions were interesting and confluent in many topics: identified challenges included cooperative difficulties, non-integrative approaches, lack of reliable information and funding; stakeholders conflicts and lax regulations. Identified key factors, following six ILBM pillars (Information, Participation, Institutions, Policies, Technology and Finance) were research (directed mainly to core topics and linked to decision-making process), monitoring, environmental education processes, access to information, creation and/or strengthening of management groups, structuring of tool boxes, manuals and guides; and last but not least, creation of finance mechanisms. This last point was clearly identified by all groups despite small capacity to define which could be such mechanisms. Government financial resources were the current mentioned resources, Being the workshop part of a long-term process of sub-basins integration it was necessary to reach general and particular agreements from participants, which were defined as four commitments: 1) Create an internet portal to have all case presentations and conclusions easily available. This was especially important given the huge amount of information received in short time. Time defined was February 2010 (first week). 2) Open a virtual forum to discuss how workshop conclusions could be used to define a common working program linking the sub-basins. Time for this goal was end of February, ) Apply this working program in the particular sub-basins during the period March-October, ) Organize next workshop in Guanajuato State, having as core points to continue sub-basins strengthening and promote ILBM with other institutions. Besides mentioned outcomes it s important to highlight importance of this workshop to boost ILBM knowledge to Mexican institutions, making continual presence in the country for two years, getting more press attention and creating political will towards ILBM approach. At the workshop very end three institutions representatives volunteered to become next local organizing committee, being these University of Guanajuato, the Turbio River Basin Commission and Salvemos al Rio Laja (Let s Save Laja River) a civil society organization, all of three allocated in Guanajuato State. In a follow-up meeting held during February 2010 the process was presented to Guanajuato State government, whose representatives expressed strong interest in supporting next

6 workshop. With that expected participating sub-basins increased to eight, two in Jalisco State, two in Michoacan State and four in Guanajuato State. References (1) Valdez, A.; M. Guzman & S. Peniche Chapala en Crisis: Analisis de su Problemática en el Marco de la Gestion Publica y la Sustentabilidad. CUCEA, Colección Estudios de Posgrado. Universidad de Guadalajara. Mexico. (2) Dau, E.& F.J. Aparicio (eds.) Acciones para la Recuperacion Ambiental de la Cuenca Lerma-Chapala. Comisión estatal del Agua de Jalisco/Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua. Mexico. (3) Cotler, H.; M. Mazari, J. de Anda (eds.) Atlas de la Cuenca Lerma-Chapala: construyendo una Visión Conjunta. Secretaría de medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales/Instituto Nacional de Ecología/Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. (4) Arriaga, L., V. Aguilar, J. Alcocer "Aguas continentales y diversidad biológica de México". Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. México. (5) Ford, E; R. Ika, J. Shine, L. Davalos-Lind and O. Lind Trace metal concentrations in Chirostoma sp. from Lake Chapala, Mexico: Elevated concentrations of mercury and public health implications. J. Environ Sci. Health Part A35(3): (6) Wester, P., M. Burton, and E. Mestre-Rodriguez Managing the Water Transition in the Lerma-Chapala Basin, Mexico. In Abernethy, C. L. (Ed.), Intersectoral management of river basins: Proceedings of an international workshop on "Integrated Water Management in Water- Stressed River Basins in Developing Countries: Strategies for Poverty Alleviation and Agricultural Growth," Loskop Dam, South Africa, October Colombo, Sri Lanka: IWMI; DSE. (7) INE Taller de Intercambio de Experiencias de la Subcuenca Lerma-Chapala. Instituto Nacional de Ecologia, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Mexico. (8) Juarez, A The Use of Workshops as a Planning Tool in ILBM: Lessons from Lake Chapala, Mexico. (9) ILEC Managing Lakes and their Basins for Sustainable Use: A Report for Lake Basin Managers and Stakeholders. International Lake Environment Committee Foundation. Kusatsu, Japan.