The Global Water Forum (GWF) has published a discussion paper titled “Water Governance Challenges in Colombia,” which reports on an analysis of water governance by the Dutch Water Governance Centre (WGC).
The report identifies key challenges in achieving effective water governance in Colombia, and underscores the need for “a new sense of urgency” among Colombian partners to address recommendations and future steps.
May 2013: The Global Water Forum (GWF) has published a discussion paper, titled “Water Governance Challenges in Colombia,” which reports on an analysis of water governance by the Dutch Water Governance Centre (WGC). The report identifies key challenges in achieving effective water governance in Colombia, and underscores the need for “a new sense of urgency” among Colombian partners to address recommendations and future steps.
The analysis identifies translation of national policies into concrete regional and local actions as the main challenge in Colombian water governance. For instance, challenges encountered in the Colombian discharge fee system include: limited regional implementation; non-compliance by municipal sewerage authorities; and an unclear relationship between discharge fees and emissions standards. The analysis finds that the lack of regional and local level implementation stems from an absence of: clear politics that include long-term, realistic goals; clear coordination, responsibilities and roles, including between horizontal and vertical levels of government; sufficient capacity at regional and local levels; and sustainable financing.
Further, although the Government of Colombia passed a new water law in 2010, the analysis finds that this law lacks concrete, measurable goals and a long-term vision. In addition, the analysis highlights annual negotiations of water budgets as limiting long-term investments.
The analysis results in 95 recommendations for improving Colombia’s water governance. Recommended actions include: creating public access to relevant information; ensuring plans include monitoring programmes; decentralizing tasks based on the subsidiarity principle; reforming the water sector to organize it around river basins; and basing the financial structure on the polluter/user pays principles and long-term planning.
A series of workshops will be organized to develop a prioritized action plan with concrete short-term and long-term actions later in 2013. GWF was established in 2010 as an initiative of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance in order to present knowledge and insight from leading water researchers and practitioners. [Publication: Water Governance Challenges in Colombia]