THE SHARED MANAGEMENT OF TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS, BRAZIL AND COLOMBIA

Ribeiro, Christian Ricardo; Bermúdez, Oscar Buitrago; Leal, Antonio Cezar

doi:10.4215/RM2015.1402.0007

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• MERCATOR (Fortaleza) 14 (2) • May-Aug 2015 • https://doi.org/10.4215/RM2015.1402.0007 copy

THE SHARED MANAGEMENT OF TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS, BRAZIL AND COLOMBIA

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

If in the internal area of the States the complexity that wraps the rational use of the waters is enormous, in the actions of international nature the formulation of rules becomes necessary to make possible the harmonious conciliation of particular interests of the involved States. This study aims to analyze the management of transboundary waters of Brazil and Colombia, countries that stand out for their significant water availability and because they share the waters of the Amazon Basin. For this proposal, we intend to analyze the legal framework and institutional arrangements of water resource management specific to these countries, trying to recognize the consistencies and divergences, as well as the challenges and possible improvements in the sustainable management of transboundary waters of Brazil and Colombia, even taking into account the path followed by the two countries regarding the issue, especially around the Amazon Cooperation Treaty.

Key words:; Transboundary waters; Amazon Basin; shared management

Country	Brazil	Colombia
Population (inhabitants).	180,654,000	44,914,000
Precipitation rate (mm/year)	1800	2600
Volume TARHR (km²/year)	8233	2132
TARHR per capita 2000 (m³/year)	48,314	50,635
TARHR per capita 2005 (m³/year)	45,570	47,470
Superficial waters (% TARHR)	66	99
Subterranean waters (% TARHR)	23	24
Overlapping (% TARHR)	23	24
Waters that enter the country (% TARHR)	34	1
Waters that leave the country (% TARHR)	6	50
Total Use (% TARHR)	1	1

	BRAZIL		COLOMBIA
Institutional scale	Government Council	To assist the President of Republic in the national policy formulation and in the govemmental guidelines for the environment and enviromnental resources	Environment Ministry/National Environment Council^* * The National Enviromnent Council has the purpose of promoting the inter-sectoral and inter-institutional coordination of the enviromnental policies.	To formulate the national environmental policy and to define the policies and regulations regarding recovery, conservation, ordinance, use, handling, and improvement of the environment and natural resources
Highest body	National Enviromnent Council (CONAMA)	To assist, to study and to propose, to the Government Council, govemmental policies guidelines for the environment and natural resources, and to deliberate, in its competence scope, about compatible pattems and rules to the ecologically balanced environment, essential to healthy quality of life.	Environment Ministry	To regulate the general conditions for environment sanitation and the use, handling, improvement, conservation, restoration and recovery of natural resources, in order to prevent, restrain, eliminate or mitigate the polluting, deteriorating or destmctive activities impact of the surroundings, and to define the execution of programs and projects for this purpose.
Consultative and deliberative body	Environment Ministry	To plan, to coordinate, to oversee and to control, as a federal body, the national policy and the govemmental guidelines set for environment.	Environment Ministry	To plan, to coordinate, to oversee and to control, including in a inter-sectoral and inter-institutional way, as a central body, the national policy and the govemmental guidelines set for the environment.
Central body	Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA)	To execute and to enforce, as a federal body, the policy and the govemmental guidelines set for the environment.	Regional Autonomous Corporations/Environment Ministry (in some cases)	To execute the policies, plans, programs and rules outlined bythe Environment Ministry, including the administration, sustainable use, improvement, protection, vigilance and control of renewable natural resources / To adminis- ter the National Natural Parks System and to grant the environmental licenses for the implementation of dams and barrages with a volume greater than 200 millions of cubic meters, irrigation systems of more than 20 thousand hectares and transfers with outflows greater than 2 cubic meters per second.
Executive body	State entities or bodies	To execute programs and projects and to control and to oversee the activities that can provoke environmental degradation. To establish environmental policies in harmony with the federal legislation.	Regional Autonomous Corporations/Departments	It is responsibility of the Corporations the execution of policies, plans, programs and mies outlined by the Environment Ministry, including the administration, sustainable use, improvement, protection, vigilance and control of renewable natural resources. It is responsibility of the Departments the promotion and execution of national, regional and sectoral programs and policies related to natural resources and environment; to perform, in coordination with other SINA entities and subjectto legal distribution of renewable natural resources and environmental functions of control and vigilance, and competences
Sectional bodies	Municipal entities or bodies	To control and to oversee the activities that can provoke environmental degradation. To establish environmental policies in harmony with the federal and state legislation.	Municipal entities or bodies	To promote and execute national, regional and sectoral policies and programs related to renewable natural resources and environment; to elaborate municipal environmental projects, programs and plans articulated to national, departmental and regional projects, programs and plans; to control and to perform the vigilance over the environment and renewable environmental resources aiming to watch for the fulfillment of State duties.

Colombia
Territorial Scale	Brazil	Colombia
National	Union	Unitary State
Regional	States and Federal District	Departments
Local	Municipalities	Municipalities, Districts and Indigenous Territories

Institutional scale	BRAZIL		COLOMBIA
Institutional scale	Entity	Attribution	Entity	Attribution
Consultative and deliberative body	National Water Resources Council (CNRH)	Highest body of SINGREH, responsible for settling use conflicts ultimately and subsidizing the formulation of the national water resources policy.	Not applicable	Not applicable
Highest body	Environment Ministry/Urban Environment and Water Resources Secretariat	Federal entity in charge of formulating the National Water Resources Policy, subsidizing the formulation of the Union budget and acting like a executive secretariat of CNRH.	Environment Ministry (MAVDT)	To formulate the national environmental policy and to define the policies and regulations with regards to recovering, conservation, ordinance, use, handling and improvement of the environment and natural resources; to plan, to coordinate, to oversee and to control, including in a inter-sectoral an inter-institutional way, like a central body, the national policy and govemmental guidelines set for the environment.
Central and execu- tive body	National Waters Agency (ANA)	It regulates the use of water resources in rivers in the Union domain and coordinates the implementation of SINGREH in ali national territory.	Not applicable	Not applicable
Sectional bodies	State Water Resources Council (CERH)	Highest State body, responsible for settling use conflicts in the State sphere and subsidizing the formulation of the state water resources policy.	Not applicable	Not applicable
State managing body	State Water Resources Manager	Central body and coordinator of the State Water Resources Management System, with similar competences in relation to ANA, where it can be highlighted the granting and supervision of water resources use in the State domain.	Regional Environmental Authorities CARs	To execute the policies, plans, programs and mies outlined by the Environment Ministry, including the administration, sustainable use, improvement, protection, vigilance and control of renewable natural resources.
Regional collegiate body	Hydrographic Basin Com- mittee (CBH)	Collegiate constituted by the public authority, users and civil society, with competences to approve the basin plan, to follow up its execution, to establish the charge mechanisms and to suggest the amounts to be charged to CNRH.	Not applicable	Not applicable
Executive body of CBH	Hydrographic Basin Agency	Executive branch of the Basin Committees, responsible for the maintenance of the updated water balance regarding the water resources availability, the maintenance of the users record, the functionality of the charge, the management of the information system and the elaboration of the basin plan. To implement projects, among others.	Not applicable	Not applicable

Instrument	Brazil	Colombia
Water resources plans	Federal Act no. 9433/1997 sets forth that water resources plans are urban master plans that intend to base and to guide the implementation of the National Water Resources Policy and the water resources management in national, state and basin scales. They are long-term plans, with a planning horizon compliant with the implementation period of its programs and projects.	As it does not exist a specific stmcture for water resources management, the responsibilities of the water planning lie on the environmental sector. The Law no. 99/1993 grants the Corporations the responsibility of coordinating the preparation process of environmental development plans, programs and projects, being their duty to ordinate and to establish rules and guidelines for hydrographic basins handling.
Water bodies classification according to pre-dominant uses	The water bodies classification, according to the predominant water uses, has the purpose, such as defined by Article 9th of the Waters Law, of assuring to waters the quality congenial to the most demanding uses to which they are defined and to reduce the costs of its pollution combat, pursuant to permanent preventive actions. The water bodies classes in Brazil were established by specific environmental legislation, represented by Resolution CONAMA no. 357, dated March 17, 2005.	Not applicable
Grant for water resources use right	The grant of water resources use right is an instmment by which the user receives an authorization to make use of water, granted by the Federal or State Public Authority, conforming to the domain of which such water body takes part. This instmment disciplines the water resources use, constituting the central element of control for the promotion of its rational use. Federal Act n° 9433/1997 states that the grant of water resources use rights intends to assure the quantitative and qualitative control of water uses and the effective exercise of the water access rights.	The Law Decree no. 2811/1974 handles with the ways of acquiring waters and riverbed use rights. The Decree no. 1541/1978, in addition to indicating that water preservation and handling are of public utility and social interest, also sets forth the concrete mechanisms for grants of different waters in the country. The same laws set forth that waters and riverbed use rights are acquired by legal effect, pursuant to concession, permission or association. The pertinent legislation sets forth that ali people should have the right to use the public domain waters to satisfy their essential needs, as well as those from their families and animais, as long as they do not cause damage to third parties.
Charge for water resources use	Federal Act no. 9433/1997 sets forth that the charge for water resources use has the objective of recognizing water as an economic asset, giving user an indication of its real value; to encourage the water use rationalization; to obtain financial resources for the financing of programs and interventions stated in water resources plans. The Act institutes the social negotiation character for the implementation of the charge instmment, what prevents the adoption, by the administration, of a merely collector nature. Hence, the Act grants the Hydrographic Basin Committees the responsibility of establishing charge mechanisms for water resources use and to suggest the amounts to be charged, by assuming a broad process of negotiation for the implementation of this instmment.	Colombia adopts two different instmments for payment of water use (retributive fee and fee per use), whose payment will be destined to environmental protection.
		Retributive fee: Law no. 99/1993 sets forth, in the Article 42, that direct or indirect use of atmosphere, water and soil for the introduction or releasing of agriculture, mineral or industrial rejects and residues, or those from black waters or wastewaters from any origin, of fumes and vapors and of harmful substances that are result of anthropic activities, whether lucrative or not, will be subjected to the payment of compensatory fees for the harmful consequences of the expressed activities.
		Fee per use: Law no. 99/1993, in its Article 43, sets forth that fees for water use by individual or legal entities, whether public of private, will give place to the charge of fees set by the national govemment, and will be destined to the payment of water resources renovation and protection.

Typology	Brazil	Colombia
Territorial ordinance	Municipal urban master plan	Municipal territorial ordinance plan
	Hydrographic basin plan	Hydrographic basin handling and ordinance plan Prioritizing hydrographic basins
	Hydrographic micro-basin plan	Not applicable
	Urban forest master plan	Forest zoning
	Regional environmental zoning	Regional environmental management plan
	Municipal environmental zoning	Not applicable
	Conservation units: integral protection units and sustainable use units	Special handling areas: reserve forest zones; natural parks system areas; protection, study and savage fauna propaga- tion zones; natural resources integrated handling districts; hydrobiological species integrated handling areas; land- scape preservation zones; soils conservation districts
	Other legally protected areas: permanent preservation area, 'legal reserve' and fountainhead protection area	Reserve forest zone (protective forest zones): headwater streams of small water courses; margins and hillsides with declivities higher than 40%; strips with 50 m of width on the margins of fountainheads, watercourses and water deposits; spaces for basin protection, dams and channels; ways of communication
Command and control	Environmental licensing	Environmental licensing
	Environmental supervision: IBAMA and Instituto Chico Mendes	Environmental supervision: Accountability Office of Re- public and Attorney General's Office of Republic
	Water use granting	Water concessions
	Water use charge	Fee per use and retributive fee
	Environmental compensation	Environmental compensation linked to environmental li- censing
Decision-making	Water bodies classification	Not applicable
	Environmental monitoring	Environmental monitoring
	Water resources and environmental information systems	Environmental information systems
	Environmental education	Environmental education
	Environmental decision instances:	Environmental decision instances: National Environment Council

	CONAMA, CNRH and CBHs
Economics	Forest certification	Voluntary forest certification
	Clean Development Mechanism	Clean Development Mechanism
	Environmental insurance	Not applicable
	Ecologic ICMS	Not applicable
	Water production subside	Certificate of forest incentive and 'forest keeper' [guarda-bosques] families

Universidade Federal do Ceará UFC - Campi do Pici, Bloco 911, 60440-900 Fortaleza, Ceará, Brasil, Tel.: (55 85) 3366 9855, Fax: (55 85) 3366 9864 - Fortaleza - CE - Brazil
E-mail: edantas@ufc.br

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[1] Note: TARHR (Current Total of Renewable Water Resources); it reflects the available water resources, in theory, for the development proceeding from every source in the country.

[2] Source: UNESCO (2008).