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 The Netherlands, May 2006.

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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 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)?

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