Registration of Citizen Water Observatories – Guías Verdes

Aim

Provide instructions to consolidate themselves as leading community actors in the protection, monitoring and permanent surveillance of water and the micro-basins under their tutelage.
Articulate the regional and national expansion of these water resource monitoring and management collectives with a micro-watershed community approach within the framework of the Ecological Blue Flag Programme.

Description

One of the fundamental pillars of the work of the Alianza Nacional Ríos y Cuencas de Costa Rica (ANRCCR) are the Citizen Water Observatories (OCAs).

The Observatories are defined as community collectives that, under a principle of environmental, community and citizen conviction, are present and try to protect the water resources of their community and region. The citizen members of the Observatories exercise vigilance and constant and permanent monitoring of the community’s water sources: aquifers, springs, recharge areas, protection areas, water bodies when these exist in the community.

The Observatories are meeting places where citizens voluntarily come together to take concrete actions to address the challenges of water management and the protection of the different water bodies in their communities. The Observatories seek to identify, develop, raise awareness and reach consensus on projects aimed at solving the problems caused by the lack of water and the lack of protection of water bodies in their communities, taking as valid and as a starting point the key Sustainable Development Goals, approved in September 2015 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, in the document known as the 2030 Agenda. Reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising the discharge of hazardous materials and chemicals, and reducing the percentage of untreated wastewater are just some of the many hazards facing our rivers, which the Observatories aim to address in their quest to improve water quality.

The Citizens’ Water Observatories base their actions on nine areas of work:

Ecological Blue Flag Programme – Micro-watershed category.

Mud Sphere Festivals (See guide “Organising Mud Sphere Festivals”)

Picnic on the River (See guide “Organising Picnics on the River”)

Water Quality Monitoring (See guide “Conduct River Water Quality Monitoring”)

The Watchful Eye

Cartographic Analysis

Network Expansion

Climate Axis Programme

Conservation of Ecosystems (See guide “Organising Ecosystem Recovery Days”)

Steps

1. Registration of a Citizen Water Observatory

1. 1 A letter of application is sent to the Alliance, expressing interest in joining the National Network of Citizen Water Observatories. Include the body of water to be protected, indicating its location in geographical coordinates. Delegate at least one person responsible for coordinating tasks and communications between the Alliance and the Observatory.

1.2 Once the application has been accepted by the Alliance, the interested party / parties must complete a Technical Sheet that the Alliance will provide.

1.3 Register the Observatory within the Ecological Blue Flag Programme in Category V (micro-watersheds) through the Alliance for the first time.

The registration period is from January to March of each year, in order to allow sufficient time for the implementation of the tasks of this programme.
If the registration period expired (April to December), the Observatory will have to wait until the following year to process its registration. Thus, this axis would be “pending” without it being an impediment to carry out other activities.
The Observatory will have to submit a detailed report on its activities from January to December of the year of registration, which is submitted from 15 January to 15 February of the year following the registration. The Alliance will ask the Observatory for a back-up copy of this report.
Each year from the year after the first registration, the Observatory shall carry out the renewal process of the Ecological Blue Flag Programme at its own expense.

It is possible that a committee already registered in Blue Flag may wish to join the Observatories. In this case, instead of applying for registration, it must validate through the Alliance that it is already participating in Blue Flag, thus opting for the Sky Star, which is exclusive to the Observatories.

2. Programming and implementation of the work of the Citizen Water Observatories

The Alliance will coordinate with the Observatories and their national and regional counterparts the activities corresponding to its nine axes of work in a timely manner and directed to the communities involved in the management and protection of their water sources.

A guide is provided for the implementation of the work axes of the Citizen Water Observatories, click on the title you wish to consult/implement:

Mud Sphere Festivals (See guide “Organising Mud Sphere Festivals”)

Picnic on the River (See guide “Organise Picnic on the River”)

Water Quality Monitoring (See guide “Conduct River Water Quality Monitoring”)

Ecosystem Conservation (See guide “Organise Ecosystem Recovery Days”)

Results

At least 65 Citizen Water Observatories duly registered and operating in the national territory, with the prospect of expanding the network of these community water management collectives. The map of the location of the OCAs can be found at the following link:

https://www.priga.una.ac.cr/index.php/mapa

Rules

The Observatories are formed under the umbrella of the National Alliance of Rivers and Watersheds of Costa Rica.
The sine qua non condition to be an Observatory is to be registered in the Ecological Blue Flag Programme
Each Observatory must have a Facebook page on which to disseminate its activities and communications with the community.
The Alliance makes available multiple means to communicate and make visible the work of the Observatories, through its newsletters, radio programmes, social networks and website.

Scopes and challenges

Consolidation of an articulating network of Observatories, in constant expansion and growth with a focus on the basin as a spatial unit of community-based management. The National Network of Citizen Observatories is a valuable communication tool with a multiplier effect at the national level, which can be accessed regularly by registered Observatories.

Ensuring the growth of the network, the regularity and periodicity of the Observatories’ work in terms of logistical, human and financial resources is the main challenge of this initiative.