strategic action program for the binational basin of the bermejo river Binational Commission for the Development of the Upper Bermejo River and Grande de Tarija River Basins strategic action program for the binational basin of bermejo river www.cbbermejo.org.ar Global Environment Facility www.gefweb.org United Nations Environment Program www.unep.org Organization of the American States www.oas.org Binational Commission for the Development of the Upper Bermejo and Grande de Tarija River Basins www.cbbermejo.org.ar Global Environment Facility www.gefweb.org United Nations Environment Programme www.unep.org Organization of American States www.oas.org STRATEGIC ACTION PROGRAM for the BINATIONAL BASIN of the BERMEJO RIVER # INDEX PART I FRAMEWORK, DIAGNOSIS AND JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. The project for preparation of the SAP 1.2. Geographic location and political division 1.3. Institutional framework for the preparatory stage of the SAP project 1.3.1. The Binational Commission 1.3.2. Governmental agencies 1.3.3. Nongovernmental organizations 1.4. Activities and work conducted during preparation of the SAP 2. TRANSBOUNDARY DIAGNOSIS, IDENTIFICATION OF PRIORITY AREAS FOR STRATEGIC ACTION 2.1. Social-geographic vision of the basin 2.2. The principal transboundary problems 2.3. Principal basic causes 2.4. Forecasting scenarios with and without the SAP PART II THE STRATEGIC ACTION PROGRAM 3. OBJECTIVES OF THE SAP 3.1. General objective of the SAP 3.2. Specific objectives 4. POLICY FRAMEWORK 5. THE STRATEGIC ACTION FRAMEWORK AND PRIORITY ACTIONS OF THE PROGRAM 5.1. The strategic action framework 5.1.1. Institutional development and strengthening for integrated planning and management of the basin 5.1.2. Environmental prevention, protection and rehabilitation 5.1.3. Sustainable development of natural resources 5.1.4. Public awareness and participation 5.2. Strategic actions 5.3. Criteria adopted for prioritizing projects 5.4. Priority actions included in the SAP 5.4.1. Projects contained in the SAP 5.4.2. Core group of priority activities PART IIIIMPLEMENTATION PLAN 6. INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT 6.1. Preliminary considerations on institutional issues 6.2. The institutional stakeholders 6.3. The organizational framework of the SAP 6.3.1. Backgound 6.3.2. Organizational framework 7. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 8. FINANCING 9. RISKS AND SUSTAINABILITY 10. MONITORING, EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION FIGURE INDEX Figure 1 Localization of the Bermejo River Basin Figure 2 Bermejo River Basin. Political and Administrative division Figure 3 Bermejo River Basin. Drainage network. Figure 44. Priority Actions. Location and Scope TABLE INDEX Table 1.1 Bermejo River Basin– Government Institutional Framework for the preparatory stage of the Project Table 1.2 Government agencies responsible for managing water and other natural resources in the Bermejo river basin (Annex I) Table 1.3 Nongovernmental organizations undertaking activities in the Bermejo river basin (Annex I) Table 2.1 Principal problems. Transboundary manifestations and quantification of the Problem Table 2.2 Priority environmental problems, effects and symptoms, causes and strategic actions Table 5.1 Strategic Actions Table 5.2 Summary of the Strategic Framework and Priority Actions of the SAP Table 5.3 Principal Strategic Areas and Activities. Total Investment Budget in US$000 Table 5.4 Multiple Purpose Project for the Upper Rio Bermejo Basin Table 5.5 Strategic areas, specific activities and projects that make up the block of immediate actions Table 6.1 Official institutions of Argentina and Bolivia to be involved in sap strategic actions (Annex V). Table 6.2 Nongovernmental organizations that could carry out SAP actions (Annex V). Table 6.3 Principal organizations of industries and water resource users in the Bermejo river basin that could participate in executing the SAP (Annex V) Table 7.1 Indicators of public participation during formulation of the SAP (Annex V) ANNEX INDEX ANNEX I Government agencies responsible for managing water and other natural resources in the Bermejo river basin Nongovernmental organizations undertaking activities in the Bermejo river basin Summarized list of institutions that have participated either directly or indirectly in the formula- tion of the SAP ANNEX II List of documents drawn up during formulation of the SAP Policy framework for executing SAP actions ANNEX III Plans and programs being executed: Investments in the Bermejo river basin ANNEX IV Priority actions, location and scope ANNEX V Official institutions of Argentina and Bolivia to be involved in SAP strategic actions Nongovernmental organizations that could carry out SAP actions Principal organizations of industries and water resource users in the Bermejo river basin that could participate in executing the SAP Indicators of public participation during formulation of the SAP ANNEX VI Multi purpose development project: Las Pavas, Arrazayal y Cambari PART I. FRAMEWORK, DIAGNOSIS AND the department of Tarija, and in northern Argentina, JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT where it embraces portions of the provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Jujuy and Salta. Figure 1 shows location of 1. INTRODUCTION the basin within the South American continent, and figure 2 outlines its political and administrative 1.1 The project for preparation of the SAP divisions. The project for a «Strategic Action Program for Binational 1.3.Institutional framework for the preparatory Basin of the Rio Bermejo»1 is the result of technical and stage of the SAP project financial assistance provided in October 1996 by the Council of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to The binational nature of the basin and the federal the governments of Argentina and Bolivia. This grant of structure of government organization in Argentina US$2,990,000 was supplemented with additional give the Rio Bermejo basin an inter-jurisdictional financing from the United Nations Environment character that makes for a highly complex institutional Program (UNEP) of US$150,000 and from the setting for the project. The following levels of Organization of American States (OAS) of US$75,000. government are involved: The governments of Bolivia and Argentina together provided counterpart funding amounting to a total of •Binational: US$2,510,000. Preparation of the SAP was a joint -Comisión Binacional para el Desarrollo effort by the governments of Argentina and Bolivia, Sustentabledela AltaCuenca del Río Bermejo y Grande working through the Binational Commission for de Tarija (the “Binational Commission”) Development of the Upper Basin of the Rio Bermejo and the Rio Grande de Tarija. The work was carried out •Regional: in both countries, beginning in August 1997 and -Argentina: Comisión Regional del Río Bermejo2 concluding in December 1999. The executing agency -Bolivia: Comisión Nacional de los Ríos Pilcomayo y has been the OAS, which is responsible for Bermejo administering the funds provided to the project by the GEF through UNEP. •Provincial level: -Argentina Governments of the Provinces of Chaco, The principal objective of the project was to prepare a Formosa, Jujuy and Salta Strategic Action Program (SAP) as an instrument for working with the responsible local institutions towards •Departmental and Municipal level: the sustainable development of the binational and -Bolivia Prefecture and Municipalities of the Depart- inter-jurisdictional basin of the Rio Bermejo, by ment of Tarija 3. incorporating environmental concerns into development policies, plans and programs for This Table 1.1 summarizes the main governmental areas paper describes the priority actions identified by the with responsibility for managing water and other natu- two countries as necessary to deal wih the principal ral resources. environmental problems and their transboundary manifestations, and reflects the results of a 1.3.1. The Binational Commission participatory process of consultation. It also establishes the institutional framework and The Binational Commission for Development of the commitments for carrying out these actions, and Upper Basin of the Rio Bermejo and the Rio Grande assesses the financing needs for the projects and was created through a treaty, signed on June 9, items selected for development. It therefore paves 1995, for the purpose of cooperating in the way to proceeding with the next phase, the programming economic and social development and implementation of the program. managing the natural environment of the region in a manner that would be sustainable overtime. The This Strategic Action Program for the Binational Basin Commission has the legal status of an international of the Rio Bermejo will be systematically reviewed and entity, it enjoys autonomy in its technical, updated during the course of its implementation, in administrative and financial management, and it light of new knowledge and the ongoing evaluation of has the legal capacity to acquire rights and contract its performance through monitoring of sustainable obligations, in the area of the upper basin of the Rio development indicators and the efforts of the inter- Bermejo and the Rio Grande de Tarija as far as their jurisdictional institutional mechanisms that are part confluence at Juntas de San Antonio. The Binational of the program. Commission is financed by the governments of Ar- gentina and Bolivia and acts in representation of 1.2. Geographic location and political division the two governments, which have given it sufficient authority to perform all actions necessary