Lake Chapala, Mexico-Integrating Sub

Lake Chapala, Mexico: Integrating Sub-basins as
an Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM)
strategy
Annual Review Meeting of the ILBM-Governance
Project for FY2009
February, 23-25 2010
Ms. Cs. Alejandro Juárez-Aguilar
MEXICO
Location of Lerma-Chapala-Santiago
Basin (Mexico)
USA
MEXICO
Santiago
River Basin
Lerma-Chapala
Basin
I. Introduction: Lake
Chapala and its basin.
Lake Chapala is the largest natural lake in Mexico.
Maximum storage volume: 7.897 Km³
Km³
Average surface: 1140 Km²
Km²
Media deep: 8 meters.
Located in the middle of the Lerma RiverRiver-Lake
ChapalaChapala-Santiago River basin (the most important
and exploited in Mexico)
Lake Chapala provides water to Mexico City and
Guadalajara City (biggest Mexican cities, external
users).
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The Lerma-Chapala Basin
Guadalajara
City
Mexico
City
•53591.3 km²
•19 sub-basins
Lerma-Chapala Basin
Features
Papelillo (Bursera spp.)
Rural people
Iguana (Ctenosaura
pectinata)
Corn (Zea maiz)
Tropical dry forest
Nopal (Opuntia ficus)
VERTEBRATES BIODIVERSITY
Source: INE,
2007.
BASIN PROBLEMS
• 552 dams in the basin (medium and large, one per 97 km2).
•51% of dams are used for irrigation
• Eutrophication and pollution (wastewater, agrochemicals, heavy metals).
•Rivers’ water flow severed in long sections: riparian ecosystems strongly
affected.
LERMA-CHAPALA BASIN
PROBLEMS
Strong lake level fluctuations linked to hydric deficit of the
basin (lake was reduced to 14.41% of maximum storage in
20012001-2002).
2002).
Irrigation, stockbreeding and urban uses with low efficiency
rates.
Stockbreeding, industrial and urban uses produce high
amount of pollutants. Agriculture generates N, P and runrun-off.
Strong deforestation process (land use change).
Highly spread erosion processes.
SingleSingle-crop farming, minimum monetary gain for farmers,
high ecological impact.
Quarrels for water use: irrigation vs. urban users,
conservation vs. Productive uses.
Soil Degradation
Dramatic dessication 1998-2002
Reduced
to 14%
of total
volume
in 2002
II. Preliminar: General
projects framework
Programa de Desarrollo Sustentable
Location
Comités de vigilancia coadyuvante.
PROFEPA
2004
Communal surveillance
Community and ejido
regulations
Croping nopal and pitaya
Participative Rural Evaluation
Medicinal plants training
Ethnobotanical Research
REFORESTATION
SOIL CONSERVATION
ECOTECHNICS/EDUCATION
ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTION
Ecotourism Project
Project partners
PACMYC
JALISCO
CONSEGU, NAYARIT
CITAC
Corazón
de la
Tierra A.C.
III. Sub-basin approach
Priority sub-basins (all with working groups)
SUB-BASINS WORKSHOP
JUNE, 2009
Participating sub-basins
II. The Sub-basin approach
Priority sub-basins (all with working groups)
November 2008
Workshop aspects: speakers
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Workshop aspects
31
General
Commitment to generate and operate a task network to maintain an exchange of data, share
experiences and contribute knowledge in a rapid and effective manner.
For the Santiago River watershed:
Produce a guide of responsibilities and attributions of the institutions…in order to orient
stakeholders on how to request information, facilitate decision-making and reduce conflicts.
Support and encourage strengthening of CSOs internal structures.
Draw up a list of research topics to avoid duplicity and overlapping… and assuring the practical
application of research findings.
For the Lerma-Chapala Basin:
Create specific alliances to involve the different stakeholders in structuring and applying an
action plan for the direct Lake Chapala sub-basin.
Promote the creation of an Environmental Education Center in the Chapala-Jocotepec corridor
and a center for documentary research.
Organize an annual general meeting.
Integrate a descriptive case study of Lake Chapala.
ILEC assumes a commitment to promote the case of the Lerma-Chapala watershed as an ILBM
focal point for Latin America.
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ILBM Lerma-Chapala Basin Planning
Workshop 2009
Morelia, City, December 3-4, 2009
•To follow-up national and international commitments to foster
ILBM in Lerma-Chapala Basin.
•To strengthen cooperative processes of institutions applying
conservation, restoration and management projects in LermaChapala basin.
•To foster analysis capabilities of federal, state and municipal
government agencies, universities, research centers and civil society
groups to develop and apply integrated management projects.
•To create a common ground for applying ILBM in the LermaChapala sub-basins.
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PARTICIPATING SUB-BASINS
December, 2009
Workshop attendants
74 participants
37 institutions represented:
6 universities
5 federal agencies
12 state agencies
4 civil society organizations
3 multistakeholders groups
4 research centers
2 private groups
1 funding agency
A) Overview on ILBM
Finance
Information
Technology
Policies
Participation
Institutions
ILBM
A Global Review of
Lake Basin Management
B) ILBM Process in Lerma-Chapala-Santiago
Basin
•A functional task network was created using ILBM as guidance. ILEC
and INE worked as strong supporting institutions.
•In the Lerma-Chapala level contacts with other sub-basins were
established through INE’s workshop.
•For Santiago River basin, CEDHJ integrated a macrorecommendation directed to 17 government agencies with very
particular comments, asking answers by law about their projects and
responsibilities for the river sanitation and ecological restoration. This
recommendation was presented on February, 2009 being answered
by 15 institutions which are complimenting their roles in different
degree.
•Lake Chapala Management Program is on-going process, within the
Mexican Ramsar Sites program. It’s scheduled to be finished in
March, 2010. It is being integrated by The Environmental Rights
Institute (IDEA) and Corazon de la Tierra, with monitoring from
SEMADES.
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B) ILBM Process in Lerma-Chapala Basin (II)
•A Center of Environmental Culture was opened in Chapala City in November,
2009, through a collaboration agreement between Corazon de la Tierra and the
Water Commission of Jalisco State (CEA). One activity already organized was
the Migratory Birds Festival for Lake Chapala, as part of a biggest initiative
conducted by University of Guadalajara and SEMADES.
•FIDERCO created the Water Information System for Central-Western Mexico,
which includes both research papers available on internet and a researcher
directory. It’s access free, directly in the webpage www.siarco.gob.mx
•The Lake Chapala Brief is in preparation process, it will be feed with
information from the Lake Management Program.
•ILEC selected Lerma-Chapala watershed case as ILBM focal point for Latin
America, which has been presented in the ILBM-Governance Meetings held in
March, 2009 in Kusatsu, Japan; and in November, 2009 in Wuhan, China.
•Finally, organizing this workshop fulfilled one of the commitment points.
The Chapala Statement Follow-up
Working Group
El Salto
Municipality
Chapala
Municipality
NPANPA-El Travesañ
Travesaño
Microbasin San
Marcos
IN
PROGRESS
PROPOSED
CondiroCondiro-Canales
Mountain range
Migratory birds
Environmental
Culture Center
Lake Management
Program
Environmental Culture
Center
Lake Chapala
Management Plan
Laja River Sub-basin
Turbio River Basin
Generating Questions
What are the challenges to reach ILBM in
your sub-basin?
Which would be the key factors to foster
ILBM in your sub-basin?
What common points can be identified
between the analyzed sub-basins?
Common conclusions
Challenges: cooperative difficulties, nonnonintegrative approaches, lack of reliable
information and funding; stakeholders’
stakeholders’ conflicts
and lax regulations.
Key factors: research (directed mainly to core
topics and linked to decisiondecision-making process),
monitoring, environmental education
processes, access to information, creation
and/or strengthening of management groups,
structuring of tool boxes, manuals and guides;
creation of finance mechanisms.
Group Commitments
Create an internet portal to have all case
presentations and conclusions easily available.
This was especially important given the huge
amount of information received in short time.
Time defined was February 2010 (first week).
Open a virtual forum to discuss how workshop
conclusions could be used to define a common
working program linking the subsub-basins. Time
for this goal was end of February, 2010.
Group Commitments (II)
Apply this working program in the
particular sub-basins during the period
March-October, 2010.
Organize next workshop in Guanajuato
State, having as core points to continue
sub-basins strengthening and promote
ILBM with other institutions.
Participating Basins (2008-2010)
June,
2009 (4)
Dec, 2009
(5)
Nov, 2010
(8)
Thanks for your kind
attention!
¡Gracias por su atención!
Tel/Fax 52+3352+33-38251361 and 52+3352+33-89951200
corazondelatierra@gmail.com
www.corazondelatierra.org.mx