The Tacaná Watersheds: Implementing transboundary water governance through local community ecosystem based action

Mobilisation was achieved through economic valuation of water resources, provision of locally available information and capacity building for learning and leadership.

• The project’s Living Water Partnership established a Payment for Ecosystem Services scheme in Guatemala to protect and restore the Tacaná Watersheds’ natural resources, focussing primarily on water. 
• WANI facilitated grassroots mobilisation in Mexico through the establishment of the ‘virtual water resource libraries’ in the town halls of five municipalities. These provided access to up-to-date information and knowledge on water resources and the environment in the region. 
• Learning from the pilot projects under WANI has been incorporated into the University of San Carlos’s academic studies through 10-month internships. These programmes are creating a critical mass of professionals trained in WANI concepts, approaches and practice who will eventually go into professional positions in different institutions and organizations active in the area, creating an influential feedback loop.

Unregulated land use change in the upper watershed had been especially damaging on steep hillsides and deforestation reduced the capacity of the soils to retain water. The resulting erosion strongly increased the risk of floods and mudslides. WANI and partners supported the design of numerous community pilot projects which addressed water, soil and environmental conservation. Women made up 90% of these groups, empowering them to take a more proactive role in the development of their communities. The pilot projects were the basis for bringing people together to organize themselves into micro-watershed committees. Examples include:

• Forest nurseries for reforestation and promotion of agroforestry on farms;

• Facilitating development and networking of community enterprises and cooperatives working in, for example, beekeeping, fish farming, forest butterfly farm ecotourism;

• Community gardens, organic farming and soil conservation projects;

• Construction of septic systems to improve sanitation and raise water quality in the Suchiate River;

• Protection of springs for domestic water supply and installation of piped distribution;
• Establishment of a demonstration and training centre in Chiapas for integrated management of watersheds.

Small business enterprise: In Guatemala, WANI was instrumental in supporting the emergence of a youth-run cooperative enterprise called ‘Jóvenes en la Missión’ (Youth in Mission, JEM). JEM began as a Catholic environmental education initiative run by a group of young volunteers promoting sustainable water use and watershed restoration.

Microwatershed model: The Tacaná project developed a water planning and community management model based on:

• Broad community participation and recognition of Microwatersheds as a planning unit.
• The involvement of local political authorities in environmental management,
• Building community capacity in IWRM, and
• Forging strategic collaborations with government and nongovernmental organisations.

The Microwatershed model is inclusive, highly participatory and based on strategic collaborations. In Guatemala, Microwatershed councils encompass 10 to 20 communities who share water resources in the watersheds of tributary streams. The councils are organized to coordinate resource management and, critically, how this can be integrated with community development. The Microwatershed councils join each other together and therefore expand their actions to include watershed management at different scales.

At the community level in Guatemala, WANI facilitated the development of collaborations with the Community Development Committees and coordinated with Municipal and National Development Councils to enable integration of microwatershed planning and management with community-led action on development. Implementation has demonstrated that projects formulated by the communities rather than external institutions respond to the real demands of communities.

At the department level in San Marcos, in Guatemala, an alliance was created with 16 government and NGOs, to form the Inter-Institutional Coordination for Natural Resources and the Environment of San Marcos. CORNASAM has adopted the microwatershed as the unit of planning and, together, these groups have coordinated outreach and training in the micro-watershed approach.

As a result of the success of the Microwatershed model at the local level, the National Microwatershed Commission of Guatemala was established, comprising several government ministries and NGOs/ IGOs (Action Against Hunger, FAO and IUCN) to lead application of governance reform through microwatershed management country-wide. This National Commission will facilitate the preparation of national public water policies.

To rehabilitate, reconstruct and redesign drinking water systems damaged by Tropical Storm Stan in 2005, the Tacaná project facilitated communications, damage assessment and the organisation of donor coordination in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. In conjunction with municipalities and governmental authorities, a reconstruction plan for the Department of San Marcos was developed. WANI coordinated the rehabilitation and reconstruction of 72 drinking water systems and four small irrigation systems.

A total of 77 communities with approximately 34,092 inhabitants comprising 6,616 families took part in water supply system studies. Disaster preparedness plans and mechanisms were developed alongside the drinking water systems reconstruction.