A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America

Environment quality indicators can be inadequate when measuring the short-term impacts of projects and actions within an integrated watershed management approach. Quantifiable changes in environmental indicators often take long periods of time –often at the decade level- and are costly in terms of...

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Main Authors:	Musálem Castillejos, Karim, Jiménez-Otárola, Francisco, McDonald, Morag
Format:	Artículo
Language:	Inglés
Published:	2016
Online Access:	https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/8283

id	RepoCATIE8283
record_format	dspace
spelling	RepoCATIE82832021-12-22T19:22:53Z A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America Aplicación de una herramienta rápida de evaluación del manejo integrado de cuencas: estudio de caso desde la cuenca del Plata en Sur América Musálem Castillejos, Karim Jiménez-Otárola, Francisco McDonald, Morag Environment quality indicators can be inadequate when measuring the short-term impacts of projects and actions within an integrated watershed management approach. Quantifiable changes in environmental indicators often take long periods of time –often at the decade level- and are costly in terms of data collection. The subsequent analysis and interpretation seldom reflect the outcomes of work carried out at organizational, inter-institutional and social levels in the short-term. To address this constraint, an Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) assessment methodology based on data collected through key-informants was trialed in sub basins of the La Plata River in South America, and compared to a similar case study carried out in Central America. We applied the assessment tool to the mboi cae/quiteria watershed in Paraguay, and determined progress towards IWM to be 35 % (seen as a global average). We also conducted a detailed evaluation of environmental quality indicators. Comparison with the Central American case study from 2005 allowed a discussion of the methodology and its suitability in different Latin-American contexts. We propose the use of this assessment methodology, based on key-informants and data triangulation, whenever possible to obtain understanding on how projects within an IWM approach can be evaluated in a standardized manner; in a short time; and with low costs. Not substituting, our proposed rapid assessment is not a replacement for ‘proper’ complementary environmental assessment, but offers a rapid and preliminary appraisal of how projects or processes progress with an IWM approach, especially in rural areas. 2016-05-17T16:27:12Z 2016-05-17T16:27:12Z 2013 Artículo https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/8283 en Aqua-LAC - Volumen 5, Número 1 (Marzo 2013) application/pdf
institution	Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza
collection	Repositorio CATIE
language	Inglés
description	Environment quality indicators can be inadequate when measuring the short-term impacts of projects and actions within an integrated watershed management approach. Quantifiable changes in environmental indicators often take long periods of time –often at the decade level- and are costly in terms of data collection. The subsequent analysis and interpretation seldom reflect the outcomes of work carried out at organizational, inter-institutional and social levels in the short-term. To address this constraint, an Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) assessment methodology based on data collected through key-informants was trialed in sub basins of the La Plata River in South America, and compared to a similar case study carried out in Central America. We applied the assessment tool to the mboi cae/quiteria watershed in Paraguay, and determined progress towards IWM to be 35 % (seen as a global average). We also conducted a detailed evaluation of environmental quality indicators. Comparison with the Central American case study from 2005 allowed a discussion of the methodology and its suitability in different Latin-American contexts. We propose the use of this assessment methodology, based on key-informants and data triangulation, whenever possible to obtain understanding on how projects within an IWM approach can be evaluated in a standardized manner; in a short time; and with low costs. Not substituting, our proposed rapid assessment is not a replacement for ‘proper’ complementary environmental assessment, but offers a rapid and preliminary appraisal of how projects or processes progress with an IWM approach, especially in rural areas.
format	Artículo
author	Musálem Castillejos, Karim Jiménez-Otárola, Francisco McDonald, Morag
spellingShingle	Musálem Castillejos, Karim Jiménez-Otárola, Francisco McDonald, Morag A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America
author_facet	Musálem Castillejos, Karim Jiménez-Otárola, Francisco McDonald, Morag
author_sort	Musálem Castillejos, Karim
title	A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America
title_short	A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America
title_full	A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America
title_fullStr	A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America
title_full_unstemmed	A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America
title_sort	rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from la plata river in south america
publishDate	2016
url	https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/8283
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A rapid assessment tool for integrated watershed management: a case study from La Plata river in South America

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