“Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region”
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROVISION OF SERVICES IN THE SECTOR OF COOPERATION RELATED TO: Lot 6: Environment Framework Contract N°IB/AMS/451 Beneficiary Country : Central American Region Letter of Contract N° 2004/90384 “Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region” Final Report (Drs. Carla Rivera, Mr. Michel Midré) February 2005 Consortium AGRIFOR Consult Avenue Einstein, 3 – 1300 Wavre – Belgium Tél.+ 32 –10 24 50 35 – Fax + 32 – 10 24 50 38 Email : [email protected] ARCA Consulting (Italia) – CIRAD (France) – DARUDEC (Denmark) DFS (Germany) - IAC (The Netherlands) – IFREMER (France) - JVL (Belgium) This report is financed by the European Commission and is presented by Agrifor Consult for the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SG-SICA) and the European Commission. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the SG-SICA or the European Commission. AGRIFOR Consult i Table of Contents Abbreviations iii 1 Summary 1 2 State of the Environment 4 2.1 Key Environmental Issues 4 2.2 Physical Environment 5 2.2.1 Geology, Topography and Natural Disaster Risk 5 2.2.2 Climate 6 2.2.3 Hydrology 7 2.2.4 Soils and land tenure 9 2.2.5 Air 10 2.3 Biological conditions, biodiversity, ecology and nature conservancy 11 2.4 Socioeconomic and socio-cultural conditions 12 2.4.1 Archeology, cultural heritage, values 12 2.4.2 Socioeconomic aspects 14 2.5 Monitoring Environmental Indicators 17 3 Environmental policy, legislative and institutional framework 20 3.1 Environmental legislative and (national) institutional framework 20 3.2 The regional policies and strategies 21 3.3 The major regional organizations 25 3.4 Integration of environmental concerns into the main sectors 29 3.5 Integrating environmental issues in development co-operation 30 3.6 EU and other donor cooperation with the region from an environmental perspective 31 4 Conclusions and recommendations 35 4.1 The environment – technical approach 36 4.1.1 Water 36 4.1.2 Environmental contamination 38 4.1.3 Natural Resources Management 38 4.2 The environment - actors and processes in place 40 4.3 The environment – values and attitude changes 41 4.4 The Regional vs. Bi-/Trinational Approach 42 5 Limitations of this document 44 Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region – Final Report AGRIFOR Consult ii Appendices 6 Technical appendices I. Environmental maps of the region (01 mapas.pdf) II. Honduras Environmental Profile III. Guatemala Environmental Profile IV. State of the Environment – Panama V. State of the Environment – Costa Rica VI. State of the Environment – Belize VII. Nicaragua – Estado del Ambiente VIII. El Salvador – Estado del Ambiente IX. Major Projects in the Region 7 Administrative appendices I. Study methodology/work plan II. Consultants’ Itinerary and List of persons/organisations consulted III. List of documentation consulted IV. Curricula vitae of the consultants V. Terms of Reference for the Regional Environmental Profile Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region – Final Report AGRIFOR Consult iii Abbreviations ACICAFOC Central American Indigenous and Peasant Coordination Association for Community Agroforestry (Asociación Coordinadora Indígena y Campesina de Agroforestería Comunitaria Centroamericana) CABEI Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE - Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica) CAC Agricultural Council of Central America (Consejo Agropecuario de Centroamérica) CAFTA Central American Free Trade Agreement CATIE Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza) CBM Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (Corredor Biológico Mesoamericano) CCAB Consejo Centroamericano de Bosques CCAB-AP Central American Council on Forests and Protected Areas (Consejo Centroamericano de Bosques y Areas Protegidas) CCAD Central American Commission on Environment and Development (Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo) CCAP Consejo Centroamericano de Areas Protegidas CEPREDENAC Coordination Center for the Prevention of Natural Disaters in Central America (Centro de Coordinación para la prevención de Desastres Naturales en América Central) COPECO Comisión Permanente de Contingencias (Honduras) CORECA Regional Council for Agricultural Cooperation in Central America (Consejo Regional de Cooperación Agrícola) CRRH Regional Committee of Water Resources (Comité Regional de Recursos Hidráulicos) DGMA-SICA Dirección General de Medio Ambiente of the SICA EARTH Escuela de Agricultura para la Región Tropical Húmeda (Costa Rica) EFCA Central America Forestry Strategy (Estrategia Forestal Centroamericana) EIA Environmental Impact Assessment ERB Estrategia Regional para la Conservación y Uso Sostenible de la Biodiversidad en Mesoamérica EU European Union FEMICA Federation of Municipalities of Central America (Federación de Municipios del Istmo Centroamericano) GTZ German Technical Co-operation Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region – Final Report AGRIFOR Consult iv IADB Inter-American Development Bank (BID – Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo) IACD Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development IAI Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research ICAITI Central American Institute for Research and Industrial Technology (Instituto Centroamericano de Investigación y Tecnología Industrial) IICA Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Sciences IMDS Initiative for Sustainable Development in Mesoamerica (Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Desarrollo Sostenible) INCAP Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (Instituto de Nutrición de Centro América y Panamá) IFF Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (Foro Intergubernamental sobre los Bosques) IPF Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (Grupo Intergubernamental ad hoc sobre los Bosques) IRWR Internal renewable water resources IUCN The World Conservation Union (UICN – Unión Mundial para la Naturaleza)) LACFC Latin American and Caribbean Forestry Commission (FAO) MDG Millennium Development Goal NGO Non Governmental Organization OAS Organization of American States (OEA - Organización de los Estados Americanos) OIRSA Regional International Organization for Agricultural Health (Organismo Internacional Regional De Sanidad Agropecuaria) PACADIRH Action Plan for the Integrated Management of Water Resources in Central America (Plan Centroamericano para el Manejo Integrado de los Recursos Hídricos) PARCA Environmental Plan for the Central American Region (Plan Ambiental de la Región Centroamericana) PATH Proyecto de Administración de Tierras de Honduras PBPR Proyecto de Bosques y Productividad Rural (Honduras) PPP Plan Puebla Panamá PRACC Programa Regional de Reconstrucción para América Central PRRD Regional Plan for Disaster Reduction (Plan Regional de Reducción de Desastres) SIAM Sistema de Información Ambiental Mesoamericano SICA Central American Integration System (Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana) SG-SICA Secretaría General del SICA Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region – Final Report AGRIFOR Consult v UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNFF United Nations Forum on Forests (FNUB - Foro de la Naciones Unidas sobre los Bosques) Regional Environmental Profile of the Central American Region – Final Report AGRIFOR Consult 1 1 Summary The present report is the fruit of a mission of two environmental experts, who have been fielded in Central America between the 24th of November and the 9th of December 2004. The mission visited Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras, where interviews have been conducted with the representatives of the EU, major donors, governmental institutions and NGOs active in this field. The aim of the mission was, in parallel to the pre-programming exercises (teams of the regional, Honduran and Salvadoran ones have been met), to prepare an overview of the state of the environment in the region, to review the institutional and legal framework for the environment and to develop recommendations for mainstreaming environmental concerns in priority development areas for Central America (see the terms of references in annex). Throughout the region, the environmental problems are the same, with local variations, and are characterized by a degradation affecting more and more persons. Starting with the natural disasters that affected the region 5-6 years ago, a growing concern has developed that nature conservation will not solve the whole problem. In fact, today the focus is more and more on the contamination aspects and its consequences for the social, economic and natural factors. The main problem seen by all persons met concerns water. From the background of the person, the focus lies more on watershed management, drinking water production and distribution, agricultural and industrial (including for energy) needs, sanitation and water treatment, social conflicts, etc. but always putting water in the middle. The case of El Salvador is particularly dramatic: being a small country, the high population density and the limited water resources lead to a large dependency on the care taken by the neighbour countries of the resource. Here the concept of “shared watersheds” takes all its meaning, even in the often forgotten sense of “shared underground watershed”. The large attendance at the 3rd “Central American Convention on Water”1 is significant in this respect. Not only is water availability a concern, its quality too. Contaminated water (rivers or lakes)