There are questions about the water protection subsystem that the Government seeks to create through question 7 of the popular consultation

The Constitution determines that the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) of Ecuador is integrated, in turn, by four subsystems: state, decentralized autonomous, community and private. In none of these are the calls Water Protection Areas (APH) and for this reason the Government wants to ask the country if it agrees with the incorporation a subsystem of water protection to the SNAP, amending the magna carta. This question is among the eight that, if approved by the Constitutional Court, Ecuadorians will be asked in the next sectional elections.

“There is no constitutional norm that includes water protection areas in the SNAP or within the regime of expressly protected areas”, indicates the annex to the question. The Water Resources Law does detail the functions of the APHs and, in article 78, states that they are part of the SNAP, but neither does it specifically incorporate them into one of the four existing subsystems.

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Since they are not in any subsystem, affirms the Government, the APHs do not receive any budget allocation. This has caused the absence of a model of governance, financing and participation systems in its implementation; danger of a shortage of water resources; and susceptibility to the criminal market and environmental crimes.

Ecuador currently registers 16 APH. However, 39% of the national territory is made up of areas rich in water resources, where there are fragile ecosystems such as moors and wetlands that need to be conserved, according to a report from the Water Protection Fund.

Ponce-Paluguillo, located between Pichincha and Napo, was the first APH, designated by the extinct Secretariat of Water in December 2018. For the declaration, an application is needed, which can be submitted by any person, community or trade, accompanied by a technical delimitation and have the focus of protection of hydrographic basins.

In addition, it must be a delimited area where there are water sources that are considered “of public interest” for their maintenance, conservation and protection. These sources must also supply human consumption or guarantee food security and sovereignty.

The conservation of these areas is linked to a process of co-responsibility, that is, it is the responsibility of all the actors involved in the hydrographic basin that seeks to protect: State, autonomous government and community.

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Augusto Granda, president of the Association of Park Rangers of Ecuador, does not believe that integrating the APHs into the SNAP would help, since it would only be forming a paper subsystem. He affirms that the current number of personnel working in the SNAP is very low and that if another subsystem is integrated without incorporating technicians and implements, the conservation of those areas would be at risk.

“Qualified personnel should be hired for this subsystem if they were to create it. These areas must be sustainable“, He says. He indicates that before creating a new subsystem, the SNAP must be promoted through a protected areas service attached to the national environmental authority, but with autonomy.

“First you have to strengthen the actions on what we already have before thinking about another subsystem. Although the figure of APH is good, with good intentions, laudable because conservation is sought, there are communities that do not agree with this figure. In addition, this question does not come to provide a solution to the current problems, rather it will deepen them if it does not come with the adequate resources.”, he assures.

Although the Government affirms that there are no allocations for APHs, it does not define how it will structure a budget if the question is approved. In fact, he acknowledges that ‘there are not many empirical studies in the world on the financial and economic costs of water resources, so it becomes a challenge to accurately determine the investment required for their protection.’

And this, according to Granda, makes it “clear” that there is no financing and that it is most likely that “the few resources that SNAP currently has are going to be taken and they will be divided to budget for the new subsystem. With that they are going to diminish the management capacity”.

Gustavo Manrique, Minister of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, highlights the figure of the APH and affirms that they are part of the “conservation credentials” that the Government has: “The APH must be part of the SNAP, since the norm does not establish to which subsystem they belong, and it does not form a subsystem in itself because its extension and its natural course affect several of the subsystems; For this reason, it is necessary to amend the Constitution to give it this maximum protection that the water resource requires.”.

It is important to differentiate, according to Manrique, the APH, since these are not like protective wetlands, forests and vegetation. In addition, the guarantee of protection of the water protection areas will be increased as they are part of a SNAP subsystem, making it so that no extractive activity of natural resources can be carried out in it.

“This measure is essential to be able to combat organized crime and illegal extractive activities, especially illegal mining. The APH can bring benefits by allowing the creation of jobs through tourism, which in the same way must adjust to the parameters required in terms of conservation where tourism and protected areas belonging to SNAP converge in Ecuador.“, it states.

According to the official, the government goal is to reach 284,000 hectares of water protection by 2025, since water is considered a strategic resource that must be taken care of. Although he does not specify how the financing for them will be obtained. (YO)