Adjusted to reality? Mandate and functioning of the General Integral Commission of the Grande Tárcoles Rivershed in Costa Rica
(2023) In Ecology and Society 28(4).- Abstract
The Grande de Tárcoles River in Costa Rica is one of the most polluted and degraded river basins in Central America. At the same time Costa Rica is a country internationally recognized for progressive environmental management. At least on paper, the country fosters sustainable river management in the form of integrated water resources management (IWRM). In the specific case of the Grande de Tárcoles River there is the General Integral Commission of the Grande Tárcoles River basin (CGICRGT) assigned to manage the basin in an integral manner. How this works in practice has so far not been investigated. Therefore, in this article we examine the formal and informal design and working practices of the CGICRGT and determine which type of... (More)
The Grande de Tárcoles River in Costa Rica is one of the most polluted and degraded river basins in Central America. At the same time Costa Rica is a country internationally recognized for progressive environmental management. At least on paper, the country fosters sustainable river management in the form of integrated water resources management (IWRM). In the specific case of the Grande de Tárcoles River there is the General Integral Commission of the Grande Tárcoles River basin (CGICRGT) assigned to manage the basin in an integral manner. How this works in practice has so far not been investigated. Therefore, in this article we examine the formal and informal design and working practices of the CGICRGT and determine which type of river basin organization (RBO) it represents. Based on a mixed-method approach combining document analysis with semi-structured qualitative interviews we found that the CGICRGT contains elements of both, an agency RBO and a coordinating RBO. Although coordinating the river management works well to a certain extent, critical challenges remain that hinder a fully successful management of the basin and in consequence the improvement of its ecological status. Amongst them count the overlapping responsibilities of national and local institutions, the missing participation of some important institutions, the lack of financial and personnel resources, slow progress in terms of time, and a lack of motivation of the participating institutions. Although the CGICRGT presents an excellent platform for the integrated management of the Tárcoles river basin its progress will be too slow and its impact too small as long as all participants do not prioritize its work and integrate and motivate all important actors.
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- author
- Schröter, Barbara LU ; Castro-Arce, Karina and Aguilar-González, Bernardo J.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- institutional analysis, institutional interplay, integrated water resources management, Latin America, river basin organizations, water governance
- in
- Ecology and Society
- volume
- 28
- issue
- 4
- article number
- 22
- publisher
- The Resilience Alliance
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85178422180
- ISSN
- 1708-3087
- DOI
- 10.5751/ES-14597-280422
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Funding Information: We would like to thank the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) for providing funding through a grant for the PlanSmart research group (grant no: 01UU1601B) as well the University of Costa Rica for funding Proyecto PlantSER – Pry01-532-2020, with direct funding from the participant academic units School of Architecture, Engineering Research Institute and Program for Sustainable Urban Development - ProDUS. Thanks to Dave Huitema and Sander Meijerink for providing deeper information on their approach before we started this paper. We further would like to express our special thanks to all members of the Commission for the Integral Management of the Grande de Tárcoles River basin (CGICRGT) for their support of this study and their participation in the interview. Our acknowledgement also goes to the personnel of Fundación Neotrópica that helped in the execution of the PlanSmart grants. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Association. We also like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments helped us to substantially improve an earlier version of this manuscript. Funding Information: We would like to thank the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) for providing funding through a grant for the PlanSmart research group (grant no: 01UU1601B) as well the University of Costa Rica for funding Proyecto PlantSER – Pry01-532-2020, with direct funding from the participant academic units School of Architecture, Engineering Research Institute and Program for Sustainable Urban Development-ProDUS. Thanks to Dave Huitema and Sander Meijerink for providing deeper information on their approach before we started this paper. We further would like to express our special thanks to all members of the Commission for the Integral Management of the Grande de Tárcoles River basin (CGICRGT) for their support of this study and their participation in the interview. Our acknowledgement also goes to the personnel of Fundación Neotrópica that helped in the execution of the PlanSmart grants. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Association. We also like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments helped us to substantially improve an earlier version of this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Resilience Alliance. All rights reserved.
- id
- 8c919734-9066-47fd-8911-2f7e0d4efdc0
- date added to LUP
- 2023-12-19 14:46:00
- date last changed
- 2023-12-19 14:47:42
@article{8c919734-9066-47fd-8911-2f7e0d4efdc0,
abstract = {{<p>The Grande de Tárcoles River in Costa Rica is one of the most polluted and degraded river basins in Central America. At the same time Costa Rica is a country internationally recognized for progressive environmental management. At least on paper, the country fosters sustainable river management in the form of integrated water resources management (IWRM). In the specific case of the Grande de Tárcoles River there is the General Integral Commission of the Grande Tárcoles River basin (CGICRGT) assigned to manage the basin in an integral manner. How this works in practice has so far not been investigated. Therefore, in this article we examine the formal and informal design and working practices of the CGICRGT and determine which type of river basin organization (RBO) it represents. Based on a mixed-method approach combining document analysis with semi-structured qualitative interviews we found that the CGICRGT contains elements of both, an agency RBO and a coordinating RBO. Although coordinating the river management works well to a certain extent, critical challenges remain that hinder a fully successful management of the basin and in consequence the improvement of its ecological status. Amongst them count the overlapping responsibilities of national and local institutions, the missing participation of some important institutions, the lack of financial and personnel resources, slow progress in terms of time, and a lack of motivation of the participating institutions. Although the CGICRGT presents an excellent platform for the integrated management of the Tárcoles river basin its progress will be too slow and its impact too small as long as all participants do not prioritize its work and integrate and motivate all important actors.</p>}},
author = {{Schröter, Barbara and Castro-Arce, Karina and Aguilar-González, Bernardo J.}},
issn = {{1708-3087}},
keywords = {{institutional analysis; institutional interplay; integrated water resources management; Latin America; river basin organizations; water governance}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
publisher = {{The Resilience Alliance}},
series = {{Ecology and Society}},
title = {{Adjusted to reality? Mandate and functioning of the General Integral Commission of the Grande Tárcoles Rivershed in Costa Rica}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-14597-280422}},
doi = {{10.5751/ES-14597-280422}},
volume = {{28}},
year = {{2023}},
}