The new Nicaraguan water law in context: Institutions and challenges for water management and governance

cg.coverage.countryNicaragua
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2NI
cg.coverage.regionCentral America
cg.coverage.regionLatin America
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Environment and Production Technology Division
cg.number1005en
cg.placeWashington, DCen
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
dc.contributor.authorNovo, Paulaen
dc.contributor.authorGarrido, Albertoen
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-01T14:05:41Zen
dc.date.available2024-10-01T14:05:41Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/155029
dc.titleThe new Nicaraguan water law in context: Institutions and challenges for water management and governanceen
dcterms.abstractThe Nicaraguan Water Law, enacted in September 2007, is the first attempt to implement a new water law in the country. This is not an isolated legislative process in Central America, as other countries initiated similar reforms based on the Dublin principles. Although all new water laws need time to be implemented, the progress in Nicaragua has so far been meager. This paper provides a diagnosis about the Nicaraguan Water Law by identifying the major factors that may impede or delay its future implementation and enforcement. Its empirical underpinning is provided by 41 in-depth interviews among a sample of representative policy actors and stakeholders. The results show that the law's potential for solving water conflicts has yet to be seen in practice. Major barriers are found in the transaction costs of inter-institutional coordination, information gathering, property rights protection and enforcement, and strategic costs. For example, the institutional remapping grants new roles to old actors as well as old roles to new entities. In addition, sugarcane mills, rice, and coffee lobbies have presence in the legislative and block the appointment of managers in the newly created institutions. This paper argues that at the root of the problems is the inconsistency of setting advanced water objectives that land on weak institutions. Based on this, a number of prioritization, sequencing, and timing policy recommendations are drawn.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationNovo, Paula; Garrido, Alberto. 2010. The new Nicaraguan water law in context: Institutions and challenges for water management and governance. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1005. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155029en
dcterms.extent32 pagesen
dcterms.isPartOfIFPRI Discussion Paperen
dcterms.issued2010
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/2694en
dcterms.subjectwater use regulationsen
dcterms.subjectwater lawen
dcterms.subjectsocioecological systemsen
dcterms.typeWorking Paper

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