Commonwealth of the Portoviejo River - Ecuador

The Portoviejo River Commonwealth is a governance model based on voluntary cooperation between the 5 municipalities with jurisdiction in the Portoviejo River basin in the Province of Manabi (Santa Ana, Portoviejo, Rocafuerte, Sucre and 24 de Mayo). The main objective of the Mancomunidad is to contribute to the strengthening of coordinated management and institutional capacities in relation to present and future disaster risks in the Portoviejo River basin. Specific objectives include the promotion of common land use and management policies to carry out climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. The instrument is a common platform for the participating municipalities to carry out actions in the Portoviejo River basin to solve joint problems such as disaster risk and its causes (deforestation, poor agricultural practices, sedimentation, construction in risk areas, etc.), specifically applying Nature-based solutions, such as: recovery of the river banks and its channel, risk reduction in the basin, conservation processes and risk mitigation through land use.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Agreement-based or cooperative instrument›Public-community agreement

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Social cohesion
Social equity
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The lower reaches of the Portoviejo River are at risk of flooding; therefore, SbN seeks to establish flood adaptation strategies. The aim is to improve water quality for the 5 cantons that are part of the commonwealth. Likewise, through the commonwealth, it seeks to incorporate the river as part of the urban structure of the cantons through which it flows.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Green areas for water management

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Multifunctional NBS support

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Municipal Governments

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

It is imperative to have a comprehensive risk management system where governance and sustainability approaches are mainstreamed in the analysis, design and implementation of tools that strengthen the capacities of all stakeholders and promote comprehensive risk management, given these scenarios and within the framework of institutional agreements, the process of forming the commonwealth for the management of present and future risks must be articulated between municipal governments. The commonwealth elects a representative, who manages it and conforms the teams or technical committees, its eligibility is valid for several years and later a new representative is chosen.

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

N/A

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs, NGOs, etc.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public national budget

Funds provided by non-governmental organization

Details about instrument financing:

Once the assembly is established, financing alternatives will be established, which could be: contributions from the municipalities involved, tax revenues that have been authorized to the commonwealth, resources or allocations from the Central Government, funds from external entities, among other alternatives that are considered pertinent.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

It is not yet possible to verify results, as the Portoviejo River commonwealth is still in the implementation phase.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The responsibility of municipal actors in each canton and the commitment to their city could generate joint actions on a regional scale in favor of natural resources that improve the environmental, social, and economic conditions of the five municipalities involved. At the same time, it is expected to obtain the co-responsibility of all the inhabitants bordering the river to help obtain better results from the commonwealth and preservation of the river.