The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy (LEIS)

Water scarcity is one of the most pressing environmental issues in Lima, Peru. The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy (LEIS) was developed between 2011-14 to address this problem as well as the inequalities in basic services distribution such as provision of drinking water, proper wastewater treatment and access to green open spaces. The aim of the strategy is to integrate in a participatory way urban landscape planning and design with water management in order to support the urban water cycle. The development of the strategy was led by Institute of Landscape Planning and Ecology (ILPÖ) of the University of Stuttgart in cooperation with partners in Peru. The strategy includes a set of resources for water-sensitive urban design: the LEIS Manual, the LEIS Tool and the LEIS principles. The principles were approved by the Lima Metropolitan Municipality and were to be considered in the future Metropolitan Urban Development Plan. A number of demonstration projects were developed and implemented in Lima to test and refine the strategy.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Social equity
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy aimed to provide integrated planning principles to support the provision of ecological infrastructure network, understood as a multifunctional system of open green spaces. This system would help address urban development challenges in a sustainable way by contributing to improvement and protection of the urban water cycle. The pilot projects developed to test the strategy included interventions such as an ecological river park (functions: ecological water treatment, flood protection, recreation, cultural services) and a wastewater treatment park - a recreational area were vertical constructed wetland to treat wastewater from polluted irrigation channel.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

Good practice characteristics:

Support multifunctional NBS

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Innovative

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Researchers, university

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy was developed by the Institute of Landscape Planning and Ecology (ILPÖ) of the University of Stuttgart as part of a research project (LiWa) funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The strategy was developed in cooperation with the Lima Metropolitan Planning Institute (IMP) and Foro Ciudades para la Vida (FCPV). Academic partners were the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI). A number of demonstration projects were implemented to test the strategy. The findings of the pilot projects were discussed with local stakeholders, academia and residents. The findings of the discussions contributed to the strategy's recommendations for water sensitive urban development and design.

Targeted actors:

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

Details about the implementation:

The strategy was applied in a demonstration mode at different scales, in close cooperation with the metropolitan and local district administration, technical agencies, research institutions, civil society and surrounding communities. As a result, the Ecological Infrastructure Landscape Framework Plan for the Lower Chillon River valley was created and a number of demonstration projects were proposed. The project “Creation of sport, leisure and cultural services in the Chuquitanta Ecological Park, lower Chillon River Watershed” presented by Park Services of the Metropolitan Lima Municipality (SERPAR) was approved by the Ministry of Economy under the Participatory Budget process. The “Wastewater Treatment Park – Children’s Park”, located in the San Martin de Porres district, was built and inaugurated in 2014.

How did the government support the instrument?:

The principles for ecological infrastructure were defined and harmonized with the Concerted Regional Development Plan, developed by the Metropolitan Planning Institute (IMP), and approved by the Lima Metropolitan Municipality. The principles were to be considered in the future Metropolitan Urban Development Plan promoting the implementation of the ecological infrastructure at major scale.

Financing

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The funding to develop the strategy was provided by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Future Megacities Program. Lima's San Martin de Porres Municipality and the community La Florida II co-financed the implementation of Wastewater Treatment Park “Children’s Park” pilot project. The budget of the strategy and of the pilot project implementation is unknown.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

There is no evaluation report of the strategy itself. However, the portability of the strategy process has been assessed in a report titled "Portability Handbook. How can LiWa be applied to other regions of the world?". (See references).

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

A set of resources were developed in the process of strategy preparation. Those include "LEIS Principles" - a set of rules for water sensitive urban development, considering the integration of water and wastewater into planning and open space design. The principles were approved by the Lima Metropolitan Municipality and were to be considered in the future Metropolitan Urban Development Plan. Further resources include "LEIS Tool", a GIS-based planning tool that quantifies demand, availability and potentials for the reuse of water supporting planning and sustainable open space design; and a "LEIS Manual", a set of water sensitive urban design guidelines for creating green spaces. Moreover, as part of the development of the strategy a demonstration wastewater treatment park ("Children's Park") was constructed in the lower basin of the Chillón river, Chuquitanta, Lima. Finally, Lower Chillon Landscape Framework for the development of an Ecological Infrastructure Landscape considering the ecological, cultural, social, economic and archeological landscape in the area was developed, and a conceptual design for an ecological report was prepared.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The strategy has developed an innovative approach to sustainable urban development, which integrates the management of water and wastewater with development and management of open spaces. It provides a comprehensive approach by integrating landscape planning, urban planning, and water and wastewater management and gives due consideration to involving local authorities and community organisations. The strategy is locally appropriate, giving a strong consideration to the traditional informal occupation processes that for decades have shaped Lima's urban development as well as the arid conditions prevalent in and unique to the city. The strategy includes a set of resources and tools (the LEIS Principles, the LEIS Manual and the LEIS tools) that can be used in other contexts. An initial study to test the feasibility of implementation in the area of New Cairo, Egypt has been conducted in 2015.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Metropolis (n.d.), The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy (LEIS) . Available at: https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/lima-ecological-infrastructure-strategy-leis#casestudydetail

Eisenberg, B., Nemcova, E., Poblet, R., Stokman, A. (2014) "Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy". Integrated urban planning and design tools for water scarce cities, Institute of Landscape Planning and Ecology, Stuttgart. Available at: https://issuu.com/ilpe/docs/lima_ecological_infrastructure_stra_9c435aba38df2f

LiWa Project (2015), Transferability Manual. How can LiWa be applied to other regions of the world? Available at: https://www.lima-water.de/documents/liwa_transferabilityreport.pdf

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://issuu.com/ilpe/docs/lima_ecological_infrastructure_stra_9c435aba38df2f

Photos

@E.Iwaszuk