Local water governance prevents conflicts

Even before the rainy season was over, people in Condega district in Nicaragua were aware that the following dry season would probably be a tough one unless radical steps were taken. Just like much of the rest of Nicaragua, Condega district had received only a fraction of the rain that usually falls between May and November. Up until November 2009, the area received a total of 200 millimetres of rain compared to an average of about 800 millimetres. During the previous years, the district had experienced a major rise in the amount of tobacco being cultivated. Between 2005 and 2009, the amount of land being used to grow tobacco had increased by 50 percent. The tobacco seedlings are transplanted at the end of the rainy season and are then irrigated during the dry months until harvest time, usually between the end of February until April. The number of complaints and conflicts between tobacco growers and the rest of the population – who need water for their animals, for washing, but also to drink – thus has increased markedly during the last few years.

An international research programme coordinated by the Danish Institute for International Studies has been mapping water-related conflict and collaboration that has taken place over the last decade in five districts in Africa, Asia and Latin America – including Condega district. The programme estimates that within a small district such as Condega, with a population of around 30,000 people, there has been a total of about 860 water-related events during the last ten years. Of these events, nearly half have been conflictive.

During the last five years, tobacco production has become more widespread and many rivers and streams have dried out completely during the dry season. Concurrently with this, events related to the use of water for irrigation vis-à-vis the use of water for drinking and other domestic purposes have become increasingly frequent – especially among the conflictive events.

Local water governance works
However, not all of these competitive water-related situations lead to conflicts. Sometimes they result in improved local collaboration, but this depends on how the situation is addressed at local and national level.

Condega district has an active local democracy. Each month, the local press, many NGOs and community representatives together with the local police and representatives from the relevant national authorities meet as part of the district environmental commission.

On the basis of a recommendation from the district environmental commission, in October 2009, the district committee of Condega agreed to institute a provisional ban on tobacco cultivation along those rivers that are at highest risk for running dry and that supply many citizens in the district, including in Condega town, with drinking water and water for washing.

The ban stayed in operation until the start of the next rainy season in the middle of 2010. At the same time, the district environmental commission created regulatory instruments in consultation with local citizens and tobacco growers to control the use and protection of local water resources. These regulatory instruments were agreed upon in December 2009 and stipulate that each year, only water-saving irrigation technology such as drip irrigation systems may be used after 28 February while all other forms of irrigation must cease after that date.

The district received assistance from both the local press and national authorities to develop, disseminate and enforce the provisional ban as well as the district by-law instituted to regulate the use and protection of water resources. Thanks to this carefully timed intervention, Condega district authorities helped to avert what could have developed into a catastrophic situation. Rather than giving rise to an increase in the number of conflicts about water, the drought resulted in a greater level of cooperation in order to manage the limited amount of water which was available.

Local water governance merits more attention as part of international development cooperation
The Condega case illustrates the potential of district water governance, particularly when developed in collaboration between national, district and local bodies and with the involvement of local citizens and the civil society. Nonetheless, the importance of district authorities is frequently overlooked when efforts are made to strengthen water governance in developing countries. This is a neglect which international development cooperation is encouraged to correct.