Land and Water Resources Management in the Caribbean
By
Dr. Chandra A. Madramootoo, P.Eng.
James McGill
Professor and Director
Brace Centre for Water
Resources Management
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
Keynote Address at the First Technical Meeting
Caribbean Land and Water Resources Network
(CLAWRENET)
Bridgetown, Barbados
1 October , 2000
The land and water resources of the Caribbean region are being threatened by improper human practices. Deforestation and the intensive cultivation of short term crops on steep slopes lead to soil erosion. Contamination of rivers by agro-chemicals and the improper disposal of household waste are threatening aquatic ecosystems and off-shore habitats. High sedimentation rates in rivers are encountered during the rainy season. Inadequate capacity of culverts, bridge openings, stream crossings etc. leads to flooding of rural homesteads and agricultural lands, especially during the hurricane season. The region experiences a dry season during the first part of the year, and supplemental irrigation is required during this period to sustain the production of food crops and horticultural crops. However, irrigation is relatively small in most of the Caribbean islands. More water storage structures are required.
The lack of sound land use policies leads to loss of prime agricultural lands, and improper agricultural practices on steep, marginal hillside lands. In addition, there are no national water policies. Land and water management in the region is fragmented. Several agencies have responsibility for various aspects of land and water. This hampers sound and integrated management. A more coordinated and unified approach to land and water resources management is required. There is an urgent need for integrated watershed and resources management. Institutional frameworks and government policies which allow for increased stakeholder involvement and participation of the private sector, NGOs etc. need to be encouraged.
Decision support systems which include GIS and soil erosion/hydrologic/water quality models are useful in the selection of best management practices on watersheds. Soil and water conservation practices, which are well known, are not widely adopted. Land tenure issues and financing of conservation practices are some of the constraints to adoption of these practices. Lack of sound technology transfer programs in government agencies also limits the uptake of conservation practices.
In order to facilitate integrated management of land and water resources, the region will need to intensify efforts at improving the hydrometric network in all countries, improve the reliability of long term water quantity and water quality data, strengthen its technical capability in soil and water conservation, set up the appropriate institutional framework and legislation to protect land and water, develop models for pricing of water and land of varying classes, and establish international and regional networking and collaboration. Schemes for financing conservation practices among small farmers need to be developed.
The Caribbean Region is generally regarded as the archipelago of islands stretching from Cuba in the north, to Trinidad in the south. This chain of islands lies within the Caribbean Sea. It must, however, be remembered that all of the Central America countries have a coastline with the Caribbean Sea. In fact, this coastline extends from the southeastern tip of Mexico, to the northern extremities of Colombia and Venezuela on the South American mainland. However, for the purpose of this paper, the Caribbean Region will be confined to the island chain. Due to their history and patterns of colonization, these islands have experienced different levels of social, economic and political development. The English speaking islands, together with Guyana on the South American coast and Belize in Central America, have had a common history and political development. Consequently, they have formed an economic union, CARICOM. There are two non-English speaking countries in CARICOM: Haiti and Suriname. Within CARICOM, there is a sub-grouping known as the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The OECS countries are: St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Grenada. The larger island states are Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica. Much of the discussion in this paper is relevant to the entire archipelago, and to some extent to Guyana, Belize and Suriname. The physiography, scale of agriculture and agricultural systems, and land and water resources in the latter 3 countries are somewhat different than of the island chain.
The islands, especially those in the OECS, are mainly volcanic in origin. Some of the islands are of coral formation. They are of relative recent geologic history, and as such the soils are not well developed. The soil types range from sands to heavy alluvial clays in the major river valleys. Various series of loams, clay loams, and silts are encountered. The topography of the islands varies from very steep and rugged to moderately steep. The highest point, or points, in most of the islands is located in the approximate center, and the elevation radiates out to the flatter coastline. Temperatures are relatively constant year round, and range from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. There is a well defined wet and dry season in the region. About 75 percent of the annual rainfall occurs during the period, July to December. This is also the hurricane season. Rainfall varies both between and within countries. For example, the Leeward Islands of Antigua, Montserrat and St. Kitts experience less total annual rainfall than the Windward Islands of Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica. This is primarily due to orographic influences. The Windward Islands are much steeper and receive in excess of 2500 mm of rainfall annually. Similarly, the steeper parts of an island experience more rainfall than the flatter, coastal regions. Annual rainfall in the steep mountainous regions of the Windward Islands exceeds 4000 mm. Hurricane damage has been quite severe in the region in the recent past. There has been extensive damage to infrastructure, property, and crops and animals. Lives have been lost in some instances.
Agricultural systems in the region vary considerably. Larger farm units with mechanization can be found in Guyana, Belize, Trinidad, Jamaica and Suriname. Agriculture in Guyana and Suriname is carried out primarily in the flat, coastal lands along the Atlantic Ocean. These lands are below the normal sea level, and therefore have to be protected from inundation. Sea and river defence structures are therefore a requirement for human settlements and agricultural production. The predominant crops in Guyana and Suriname are rice and sugarcane. The agriculture of these two countries is nevertheless quite diversified, with various types of fruit and vegetable production. There is an extensive surface irrigation and drainage network in both countries. Belize also has large expanses of rice, sugarcane, citrus and banana producing lands. Mechanization, drainage and irrigation are also essential components of the production systems in Belize. Agriculture in Jamaica and Trinidad is on a somewhat smaller scale than the above three countries. Sugarcane is a predominant crop in both countries, with some rice production. There is also extensive vegetable production in both countries, but this drops in the dry season, due to lack of intensive irrigation. Sugar production in the Caribbean is primarily for export. Jamaica and Belize, together with the Windward Islands, are banana exporting countries. Export markets are mainly the UK, because of tradition and historical, political ties.
In the OECS countries, and Barbados to some extent, agriculture is mainly carried out by small farmers, occupying land holdings of one hectare or less. Sugarcane is predominant in Barbados and is undertaken by larger land owners. Bananas are predominant in St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica. Grenada has a more diversified agricultural system which includes nutmeg and cocoa. Sugarcane which was once the dominant crop in St. Kitts is now in decline. It is worth noting that most, if not all, of the Caribbean countries were originally built around the sugar industry, to supply the European markets during the colonial period. As for the other islands, small farmers in Barbados and the OECS countries, produce vegetables, primarily for the domestic market. However, vegetable production declines in the dry season, due to lack of irrigation. Most of the small farmers in the OECS countries are located on the steeper, more marginal lands, without access to water and other facilities. The larger land owners occupy the more fertile flatter lands, either in the river valleys, or close to sources of water.
With the exception of Guyana, Belize and Suriname, the CARCOM region is net importer of food, including very basic products. Even the three former countries import some food products, especially processed foodstuffs, beverages, and flour.
Agriculture has always been an important part of the economies of the Caribbean. It accounts for the major share of the export earnings of most countries. In recent times, other sectors of the economy have been gaining importance, viz. industry, tourism, manufacturing, commerce and banking. Nevertheless, governments recognize the importance of the agricultural sector, and often state that this sector must continue to develop and expand, and rise to the new challenges associated with the liberalization of markets and the advent of the World Trade Organization. The social and economic turmoil associated with a weakened agricultural sector could be disastrous in most countries. Trinidad is an oil producing and exporting country, and has a more diversified economy. It is probably the only country in the region that can afford a lessened dependence on agriculture. But even there, the government strongly supports local food production and agro-processing, and the allied industries.
There are enormous land and water management problems in the region, due to the variable rainfalls, soil types, steep topography in the islands, and types of agricultural production systems. The problems are especially severe in the Eastern Caribbean, and have detrimental environmental effects, which are not being addressed. Protection of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is a major challenge, which the region will need to address, if its development is to be advanced and sustainable. This paper highlights some of the problems and challenges in land and water resources management, and outlines some of the approaches which could be followed.
In addition to high amounts of rainfall in some countries, rainfall intensities are very high. The September 1994 Tropical Storm Debbie produced rainfall intensities as high as 125 mm/hr in St. Lucia (Rodman, 1996). This factor coupled with the steep topography, and agricultural production on the sloping lands, leads to severe soil erosion. There are very little soil conservation measures and "slash and burn agriculture" is practised in most countries. Several studies on soil loss have been conducted, primarily in Trinidad (Alleyne and Percy, 1966; Ahmad and Breckner, 1974; Gumbs et al., 1985), in Jamaica (Scheng and Michaelsen, 1973) and in St. Lucia (Madramootoo and Norville, 1993). Soil loss as high as 133 t/ha/yr were recorded on unprotected lands in the Jamaica study. The generally low levels of organic matter in the soils also contribute to the soil erosion rates. Given their recent geologic formation, the soils are not as well developed as in other parts of the world. In the Windward Islands, farmers have been clearing trees and moving into the upper extremities of catchments on very steep and fragile slopes to plant crops such as bananas and to build houses. There has also been similar deforestation in other countries. Not only has this led to loss of valuable tree species, but has also exposed fragile lands during the high rainfall periods. Significant land slides have thus occurred, blocking waterways and roads, and destroying crops and property.
There are no sound and regulated land policies in the region. While there have been attempts at land use classification, there are no established land management programs. Little is done to prevent people from occupying and farming steep hillsides. The land tenure situation compounds the problem. Farmers who do not own land tend to cultivate steep inaccessible mountainsides. These farmers have no incentive to undertake soil conservation measures. Unplanned housing also occurs on lands for which there is no title. Poorly constructed roads and runoff from houses exacerbate the soil erosion problems.
There is significant use of fertilizers and pesticides in the region. In many cases, agro-chemicals are being applied without firm agronomic recommendations and soil tests. These chemicals end up in streams and rivers, destroying aquatic flora and fauna, and limiting downstream use. Eroded sediment is also a source of pollution. Firstly, sediment in rivers increases turbidity. Secondly, some chemicals, e.g. N, P and pesticides are bound to sediment and thereby conveyed to water bodies. In other words, sediment is a transport mechanism for some agro-chemicals. Eutrophication in streams, rivers and lakes is stimulated with abnormally high concentrations of N and P. This leads to the creation of algal blooms.
Groundwater pollution may occur if chemicals, especially nitrate from fertilizer, leaches to aquifers. There are also cases where over-pumping of wells is leading to intrusion of brackish water in aquifers.
Improper industrial and municipal waste disposal is another source of soil and water pollution. Heavy metals in waste products and pathogens from municipal waste degrade both soil and water quality.
There is growing concern about the destruction of coral reefs, mangroves and other coastal ecosystems by inappropriate land use and inadequate waste treatment facilities. Uncontrolled sediment, agrochemicals, and effluent from industries, hotels and homes end up in the Sea. Large plumes of sediment are being observed along the Sea coast, at the outlets of major rivers. This is especially in catchments where unplanned agricultural, quarrying, industrial and housing developments are taking place.
This brings out the point that inappropriate land and water management practices create adverse environmental impacts both within watersheds and as far downstream as the Caribbean Sea.
There is a lack of long term, reliable hydrologic data in most countries. This has led to the inappropriate designs of runoff conveyance structures, culverts, bridge openings, and erosion control systems. In order to cut costs, undersized structures have been constructed in some cases. This has caused flooding, and rivers to overflow their banks and bridges. Also, sediment and debris are trapped at bridges, culverts etc. There is no established routine of cleaning of rivers and debris removal. This aggravates the flooding problem in successive rainy seasons.
While large amounts of surface runoff are produced during the wet season, there is a soil-water deficit during the dry season. Crop yields therefore decline during the dry season and irrigation is essential for horticultural crops. Average daily evapotranspiration varies between 5 and 6 mm during the year. Streamflows are also reduced during the dry season, and water shortages are sometimes encountered. The irony is that during the rainy season, much of the runoff goes to the Sea. Apart from reservoirs constructed for municipal and industrial use, runoff collection and storage facilities are rare. Although, some homes may have cisterns where roof runoff is collected for individual use. But this is not a general feature.
Water and land resources are managed in a very fragmented manner in the Caribbean. The sectors are not looked at in their entirety. There is no single agency in any of the countries responsible for overall management of these two resources. Agencies responsible for land fall within several Ministries or departments, such as agriculture, planning and development, lands, forestry, or statutory bodies such as development control authorities or national development corporations. The same applies to water. In countries where Ministries of Water exist, their responsibility only pertains to drinking water. Ministries of Agriculture are responsible for irrigation. Ministries of Health, Tourism, and the Environment also touch the water sector. This lack of coordination means that planning and management of the land and water sectors are not undertaken in an integrated or holistic manner. Most countries do not have national land or water management policies, or appropriate legislation. These shortcomings lead to conflicts in the use and allocation of the resources.
It is critical that governments develop integrated policies for both land and water. Integrated planning and management means that all stakeholders are involved in the development and implementation of policies and programs. This entails an interdisciplinary approach, and involvement of the water users and stakeholders in activities ranging from policy formulation to program and project delivery. For example, specialists in water resources engineering, the environment, agriculture, municipal systems, industry, health, economics, governance etc. all contribute to the development of solutions. Enactment of water and land laws is also key to integrated resources management. Legislation on water rights, ground water protection, control of water pollution, land and catchment protection etc. is essential components. Furthermore, governments need to develop and enforce land zoning and land use policies, in order to prevent the loss of prime agricultural lands, and degradation of sensitive areas in catchments. Apart from land use planning, governments need to take firmer control of the urban infrastructure planning process. This will go a long way towards the unauthorized establishment of housing units on sensitive lands, and the attendant problems of waste disposal.
As noted by Cosgrove and Rijsberman (2000), a holistic approach to water resources management is based on coordinating the following water uses:
Integrated watershed management is recognized as a critical step early in the process. The watershed is defined as the single unit in which all hydrologic functions can be integrated, to ensure sound management of land and water resources. By adopting the principles of integrated watershed management, land owners and water users define the common interests and agree on a set of actions which will not lead to a degradation of the land and water resources base. These actions are undertaken within a sound social, economic, environmental and institutional framework. All watershed functions and uses are considered in the management principles. So called Priority Areas (PAs) are defined. These may include:
Successful integrated watershed management projects are built on strong stakeholder participation and involvement. The stakeholders usually form organizations such as river basin organizations, catchment protection associations, watershed councils etc. to administer and implement policies, programs, and projects. These organizations help to identify and define issues and problems, identify best management practices (BMPs), share experiences, and monitor the performance of the BMPs. The latter is essential as it provides for lessons learned. Policies and BMPs could then be modified to suit site specific requirements.
Governments, universities, the private sector and NGOs are all partners in integrated water and land management strategies. Watershed plans need government institutional, legislative, financial and technical support. The private sector and NGOs can also provide funding and some technical support. Universities are a useful partner in identifying and researching solutions, providing advice, and assisting with monitoring of activities. Information exchange and technology transfer are activities which the river basin organizations may undertake on behalf of the stakeholders.
The St. Lawrence River Action Plan is a very useful model of integrated water and watershed management. This river falls under several jurisdictions: The Canadian and US federal governments; US state governments, e.g. Vermont and New York; Canadian provincial governments of Quebec and Ontario. Dozens of municipalities on both sides of the border touch the watershed. The river has multiple uses e.g. shipping and navigation; agriculture; industry; water for human consumption; tourism and recreation; hydroelectric energy; maintenance of aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, all water users and jurisdictions play key roles in defining the problems, developing solutions, and implementing policies and remedial programs. They have also developed cost sharing mechanisms, and the stakeholders in the basin have formed groups which implement conservation projects. Major thrusts of the St. Lawrence River Action Plan have been the reduction of industrial and agricultural pollution in the basin, by introducing clean up legislation, wastewater treatment plants, reduction in the use of agro-chemicals etc. An over-riding objective of these actions has been to restore the biodiversity in the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of the basin.
In some developed countries, there is now legislation requiring farmers to implement farm conservation plans. This legislation has been driven by the growing environmental concerns of soil and water pollution in rural areas. There is public pressure on the farming community to reduce the degradation of land and water resources, since this causes major downstream environmental and economic damage. Farm conservation planning requires that farmers, in conjunction with technical officers, identify sources of soil erosion, water pollution etc. and then implement best management practices to mitigate against these adverse impacts. Tools for farm conservation planning can be found in Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (1990).
Specific conservation practices which ought to be considered are:
Farmers have been slow to adopt conservation practices for several reasons. Primary reasons are the lack of knowledge of the appropriate practices, failure of government agencies to provide the technical expertise to farmers and a lack of financial capital. In many instances, government agencies do not have sufficiently trained professionals in soil and water conservation. The financial issue is important, because farmers who do not own land, find it almost impossible to obtain the money required for conservation practices. They have no collateral and their farm sizes are very small. Furthermore, these farmers have no incentive to undertake conservation measures. These socio-economic constraints need to be studied and solutions developed. They cannot be left unattended, because of the national importance to safeguarding land and water resources.
There is now growing use of decision support tools for land and water resources management. Such tools include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and computer simulation models. One of the earliest tools used for soil conservation planning was the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Many refinements and variations of the USLE are incorporated in current hydrologic models. Use of GIS allows for the archiving of physical and socio-economic data on a watershed basis. Watershed parameters could therefore be easily entered into various hydrological models.
One of the best GIS applications for land use and land capability in the region is the Grenada Land Information System (GLIS). The GLIS operates under PC ARCINFO, and contains digital databases on hydrology, climate, soils, infrastructure, parishes, terrain elevation, land use, protected areas, forest reserves and geology. The GLIS has been used to create different agro-ecologic zones in the country based on factors such as the length of the growing period, mean annual temperature, mean annual rainfall, mean temperature during the growing season, length of the dry season etc. The agro-ecologic zone information is combined with data on soil types and land slopes to establish the most appropriate cropping systems for the entire country. Market prices for the crops are also considered in the simulations. The GLIS allows the most economic cropping systems for various soil types and land slopes to be selected, while minimizing soil erosion. An added feature of the GLIS is that areas within watersheds that are suitable for agriculture, forestry etc., and areas that should be kept under conservation measures could be delineated. This is a powerful tool for integrated watershed management.
Cox and Madramootoo (1998) went a stage further and linked a GIS (SPANS) to the USLE, to estimate soil loss from two watersheds in St. Lucia. Based on these estimates of soil loss, conservation practices were selected, which reduce loss. The challenge with such decision support systems is how to deal with intensive crop production on land slopes in excess of five degrees. There is significant cultivation on steep lands, greater than five degrees, in many islands. While agro-forestry is recommended on slopes in excess of five degrees, there is a need to implement additional physical and biological conservation measures, as described in the preceding section. An additional problem is that decision support systems may call for land slopes exceeding 20 degrees to be under permanent forest cover. In this case, farmers on such land slopes will have to be relocated to flatter lands. They may also require some form of financial compensation. Governments have so far failed to address these issues of farmer relocation. One of the reasons for inaction in this area so far, is that national land inventories have never been undertaken. While some private lands in flatter areas are being abandoned, there has been no attempt to create land banks, so that these abandoned lands can be purchased by farmers located on very steep, marginal lands.
As noted earlier, GIS allow for watershed data to be easily entered into hydrologic models. GIS is now being coupled to water quality models such as AGNPS, ANSWERS etc. In this case, phosphorus loads in watersheds are being predicted. Best management practices to reduce agro-chemical pollution can then be selected. With this advance, various strategies for controlling runoff, peak flows, soil erosion, and pollutant loads could be evaluated for various storm recurrence intervals.
Other potential applications of advanced technologies lie in the use of remote sensing for assessing land use changes with time, and the use of radar measured rainfall to do real time flood forecasting and runoff predictions.
If the region is to make advances in integrated land and water resources management, it needs to pay concerted attention to the following:
There is a shortage of data on land water resources in the region. For example, national land inventories have not been undertaken in most of the countries. In addition, there is a lack of reliable, consistent, long term hydrometeorological and water quality data. There are not sufficient stream gauging stations in most countries, and in cases where there are gauges, the data is scant. There have hardly been any routine and consistent water quality measurements. Robust and secure database systems need to be created.
The region lacks a cadre of skilled professionals and technicians in land and water resources management, soil conservation, water quality, irrigation, and drainage. People with strong analytical skills are required for data collection and analysis, and also with the knowledge base to advise farmers.
Financial resources are required to undertake studies in land and water management, and to cover large and small scale soil and water conservation measures. Development finance institutions and commercial banks in the region do not have a strong history of supporting land and water resources management programs. There have been loans for irrigation. However, soil conservation programs have not been funded in any significant manner.
Related to the lack of skilled human resources is the lack of government and regional financial support for training of professionals, technicians, water users and land owners.
National agencies working in all aspects of land and water resources need to collaborate much more closely, and undertake joint planning, management and programming. They all need to be involved in a more integrated manner in land and water policy development. A framework for integrated resources management ought to be developed. Well defined policies on water and land resources management need to be articulated to the public, and strongly promoted.
Legislation on land use zoning, catchment protection, water pollution control, water rights, water pricing etc. needs to be enacted and enforced by governments.
Governments have to create an enabling environment through which all stakeholders, including water users and land owners, the private sector, universities, research institutes etc. can participate in joint policy formulation and resources management. New forms of governance may emerge, including devolution of certain central government functions to river basin councils etc.
Within any institutional framework, the role of the government should be clearly defined. Government departments which touch land and water ought to play stronger leadership roles, especially in the areas of technology transfer, data collection and monitoring.
The view has been expressed that undervaluation (or no valuation) of land and water leads to mismanagement of the resources (Cosgrove and Rijsberman, 2000). More work needs to be done on water pricing, valuation of lands of varying classifications, and the cost benefits of various best management practices.
Given the size of the region, similarity of problems between countries, scarcity of finances, and shortage of technical skills, more emphasis should be placed on regional collaboration, especially in sharing of knowledge and expertise, exchange of information, and policy development. It would also be advisable to approach international agencies and donors for financing of regional projects. The resources of the international community e.g. the NGOs, universities, research centers etc. should be drawn upon, to access the latest information and knowledge, and for assistance with training. A strong regional network with international linkages could be very attractive and beneficial.
The problems of land and water resources management are very similar in most of the Caribbean countries, with the exception of Guyana, Belize and Suriname. These countries lie somewhat outside the Caribbean archipelago. Land and water resources management are very fragmented. As a consequence, there is considerable soil erosion due to improper farming practices. Lack of land zoning policies results in the loss of prime agricultural lands to housing and other developments. Farmers are planting intensive short term crops on vulnerable steep lands. Stream pollution by agro-chemicals and municipal waste is deteriorating the rivers. Sediment and chemicals in rivers are threatening coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves. The region needs to focus its efforts on integrated watershed and resources management. A more holistic approach to the planning and management of resources needs to be undertaken, involving all stakeholders. These include land owners, water users, government departments, the private sector, universities and research centers. New forms of governance of watersheds may emerge, as a result of integrated management and involvement of all stakeholders. The concept of farm conservation planning needs to be promoted, in order to identify and implement appropriate methods of soil and water conservation. Decision support tools such as GIS and hydrologic and soil erosion models are powerful techniques for integrated watershed management.
In order to facilitate a more rapid approach to integrated land and water resources management, the region must give urgent thought to improving its hydrometric network and quality of hydrometric data, strengthening the skills of technical staff in government departments, establishing the institutional framework for integrated resources management, putting the financial programs in place to encourage soil and water conservation, doing a better job of valuing water and land of varying classes, and increasing regional and international collaboration and networking.
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