Social management in Guardaña watershed A case study of a pilot pedagogical watershed in Bolivia MSc thesis by Sonia Natalia Vásquez Díaz October 2015 Soil Physics and Land Management Group 1 Social management in Guardaña watershed: a case study of a pilot pedagogical watershed in Bolivia Master thesis Soil Physics and Land Management Group submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Science in International Land and Water Management at Wageningen University, the Netherlands Study program: MSc International Land and Water Management Student registration number: 851215852110 LDD 80336 Supervisors: WU Supervisor: Aad Kessler Montpellier SupAgro Supervisor: Thierry Ruf Agris Mundus Supervisor: Didier Pillot Examinator: Coen Ritsema Date: 30/10/2015 Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University 2 Abstract The Bolivian Ministry of Environment and Water, concerned for soil and water problems in the country, created the National River Basin Plan (PNC in its Spanish acronym) as a tool to implement its own approach for water management, known as Social River Basin Management. As it considers river basin as the basic management level and local capacity building as a priority, the Pedagogical Watershed Program is being implemented through pilot projects. This study was carried out in Guardaña, one of the six Pedagogical Pilot Watersheds located in Oruro Department between 3810 and 4722 meters above sea level. A case study was conducted in a four-month field work in order to understand the natural and socioeconomic dynamics as well as how the PNC watershed approach has been implemented. These two elements are combined to propose a strategy for enhancing integrated management in Guardaña. On the one hand, Guardaña has a context of strong differences in upper and lower zones; land degradation evidenced by erosion in the upper part and water pressure in the lower part led by agriculture. SWC practices have been implemented with different levels of success, being water harvesting the most recognized and adopted by farmers. On the other hand, Guardaña has developed a watershed concept with important specificities in three components discussed in river basin approach implementation: boundary definition, watershed management organization and scale issues. Based on the findings, a strategy for Guardaña watershed social management is proposed with the next components: 1) Promote motivation and capacity building for up- scaling; 2) Develop the Guardaña Watershed Management Plan, 3) Articulate PNC programs. Resumen El Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Agua del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, preocupado por los problemas del suelo y del agua en el país, creó el Plan Nacional de Cuencas (PNC) como una herramienta para aplicar su propio enfoque de gestión del agua, conocida como Gestión Social de Cuencas Hidrográficas. Considerando la cuenca hidrográfica como el nivel básico de gestión y la creación de capacidades locales como una prioridad, el Programa Intercultural de Cuencas Pedagógicas está siendo implementado a través de proyectos piloto. Este estudio se llevó a cabo en Guardaña, una de las seis cuencas pedagógicas piloto ubicada en el Departamento de Oruro entre los 3810 y 4722 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Un estudio de caso se llevó a cabo a través de trabajo de campo durante cuatro meses con el fin de entender por una parte, las dinámicas naturales y socioeconómicas en Guardaña, y por otra parte la implementación del enfoque de cuenca del PNC. Estos dos elementos se combinan para proponer una estrategia para el mejoramiento de la gestión integrada de la cuenca Guardaña. Por un lado, Guardaña tiene un contexto de fuertes diferencias entre la zona alta y baja; se evidencia degradación de suelos por erosión en la parte alta y fuertes presiones en el manejo del agua en la parte baja debido a la agricultura. Se han implementado prácticas de conservación de suelo y agua con distintos niveles de éxito, siendo la cosecha de agua la más reconocida y adoptada por los agricultores. Por otro lado, Guardaña ha desarrollado un concepto de cuenca con importantes especificidades en tres componentes discutidos actualmente en la aplicación del enfoque de cuencas hidrográficas: delimitación, organismos de gestión de cuencas hidrográficas y aspectos de escala. Con base en los resultados, se propone una estrategia para la gestión social de la cuenca Guardaña con los siguientes componentes: 1) Promover la motivación y el desarrollo de capacidades para el escalamiento; 2) Desarrollar el Plan de Manejo de la Cuenca Guardaña, 3) Articular y ajustar los programas del PNC. 3 Table of Content Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Resumen ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Table of Content ............................................................................................................................ 4 Glossary......................................................................................................................................... 7 Preface ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Introduction and background ....................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 9 Background ............................................................................................................................... 9 Study area location ................................................................................................................ 9 Water resources management in Bolivia ............................................................................. 11 National River Basin Plan - PNC ........................................................................................ 11 Guardaña Pedagogical Watershed ....................................................................................... 12 Research questions .................................................................................................................. 13 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 2: What is “Guardaña watershed”? ................................................................................ 15 Constructing the “watershed” concept .................................................................................... 15 MIC project (2008 - 2012) .................................................................................................. 16 The Guardaña Pedagogical Watershed project (CPG in Spanish) (2014 – 2016) ............... 17 Differences between concepts ................................................................................................. 18 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 3: Current soil and water management in Guardaña...................................................... 22 Dynamics................................................................................................................................. 22 Zoning ................................................................................................................................. 22 Distribution dynamics ......................................................................................................... 23 Main problems associated to land and water management in Guardaña ............................. 25 Implemented strategies: Soil and Water Conservation practices ............................................ 27 Water management: Atajados ............................................................................................. 27 Cross slope barriers: slow-forming terraces ........................................................................ 28 Alluvial bank terraces .......................................................................................................... 29 River bank protection: Gabions and salicaceae plantation ................................................. 30 Forest management: Forestation ......................................................................................... 30 Cropping management: Aynokas ......................................................................................... 31 Grazing land management: mating pens (Ark’ana Cancha) ............................................... 31 Water Management: drinking water and irrigation ................................................................. 32 Drinking water .................................................................................................................... 33 Watering livestock............................................................................................................... 33 4 Water for Irrigation ............................................................................................................. 34 Integrated Farm Management ................................................................................................. 36 Spiritual aspects and traditions in natural resources