IWRM NEWS OiEAU 2021

SUPPORT FOR THE IWRM APPROACH ON THE RIO PORTOVIEJO PILOT BASIN Project Stakeholders National partner Ministry of Environment and Water of Ecuador (MAAE) and the Zonal Directorate of Manabí, a deconcentrated department of the Ministry on a pilot scale. Project team Experts: A. Bernard, R. Boyer, V. Frey, P. Haener, R. Poirier (VIE) Project leader: Z. Dupérier Key information Location National scale; Manabí Hydrographic District; Rio Portoviejo pilot Basin. Key words Basin Councils, Programme of Measures, WIS, University Cooperation. Objectives Consolidation of IWRM tools and mechanisms to ensure that the pilot experience in the Rio Portoviejo basin is sustainable and to promote an approach to experience sharing and adapted replication of achievements at the Manabí Hydrographic Demarcation. Implementation schedule 2019-2021: Phase III Project financed by Adour-Garonne Water Agency Detailed project description The institutional support project for the implementation of IWRM in Ecuador meets the goals set by the Ministry of Environment and Water (following the Presidential Decree of 4 March 2020 on the merger between the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador -MAE- with the Ecuadorian Water Secretariat -SENAGUA), in applying the legal provisions of the Organic Law on Water Resources, Uses and Water-usage (LORHUyAA) and its Regulations. With the financial support of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency and the technical assistance of the International Office for Water, the cooperative work has resulted in key outputs for each of the main components of the pilot scale project: water governance, planning, WIS for IWRM, sustainable financing mechanisms.. Poza Honda dam visit, 2020 - Rio Portoviejo basin Outcomes and prospects Main current results Collaborative development of the first Rio Portoviejo Basin Management Plan and its Programme of Measures; Consultation with the local authorities for the consistency of planning instruments and the integration of a river basin vision; Support to the interoperability strategy of the MAAE's information systems; Water data collection, sharing and enhancement between the national and pilot scales. Focus on Strategic partnership between the PUCE Manabí University - member of the Rio Portoviejo Basin Council - and the Zonal Directorate of Manabí: Students at PUCE Manabí University have supported, during their graduation internship at MAAE (2019-2020), the creation of dynamic maps using data collected from associations of drinking water and sanitation users in the Portoviejo and Chone catchment areas. The data were used to feed the MAAE's WIS on a national scale and to initiate work to update the water balance of the Portoviejo river basin on a pilot scale. In order to ensure that this collaboration is sustained, a framework agreement is being drawn up between PUCE Manabí and MAAE. Prospects Partners took great ownership of the work, ensuring continuity of activities in a context of institutional restructuring (SENAGUA - MFA merger) and pandemic. It also enabled the identification of the MAAE's political and technical priorities for a new cooperation phase. 15 ECUADOR