General Water Law consolidates integrated water resource and river basin management in Honduras

Posted on 15 Jun, 2020 by Harald Landauer

In March 2020, the General Directorate of Water Resources of the Ministry of the Environment in Honduras thanked the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) for its contribution to the consolidation of the legal and regulatory framework regarding the institutionalization of the country's General Water Law. Two GFA-led consortia executing the Programs “Territorial Water Governance in the Gulf of Fonseca” and the “Community-based River Basin Management – Goascorán, Phase II” have accomplished this success.
 
The General Water Law, which aimed at the equitable and sustainable management of water resources, had been approved in 2009 but lacked instruments for its implementation. In order to overcome related shortcomings, SDC and the two programs implemented by GFA started in mid 2019 to facilitate a participatory process of formulating the general regulations of the Law. In addition, specific regulations and a proposal for an organizational and financial structure for the institutionalization of the necessary bodies for water management have been developed. This concerned the new Water Authority in particular.
 
As part of the technical and financial support, a mission to Peru was organized for an experience exchange between the two countries' water authorities and other relevant institutions. An inter-institutional commission was formed to participate in the process of developing the organizational and budgetary structure of the Water Authority in Honduras. A collaboration agreement had been signed between the National Water Authority of Peru and the Director General of Water Resources of the Ministry of Environment in Honduras.

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