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Caribbean WaterWays

Newsletter of the GEF IWCAM Project

Volume 4, Issue 1 March 2010

In this issue:

* Managing the Sensi-
tive Coastal and
Freshwater Re-
sources of 'The Big
Yard' (pgs. 1,2,3)

* World Water Day
2010: Fond D'Or
Waters Keep No
Secrets (pgs.1, 7)

* Background on the
GEF-IWCAM Project
(pg.2)

* Bountiful Harvest-
Innovation in
Cuba's Demo Pro-
ject (pgs. 4-5)

* St. Lucia's Water
Resource Manage-
ment Agency bene-
fits from TCC with
Jamaica (pg. 6)

* Planning for Tomor-
row's Water Needs,
Today(pg.7)

* Sharing GEF-
IWCAM Climate and
Water Experiences
in South America
(pg. 7)

* Fifth Biennial Carib-
bean Environmental
Forum and Exhibi-
tion, CEF 5 (pg. 8)

* World Water Day
2010: Clean Water
for a Healthy World
(pg. 8)

World Water Day

Clean Water for a I allcthy World

Fond D'Or Waters Keep No
Secrets
Jean Giraudoux, a French novelist,
once remarked that "Water is the one sub-
stance from which the earth can conceal
nothing; it sucks out its innermost secrets
and brings them to our very lips". In St.
Lucia, the residents of the Fond D'Or Water-
shed have proved this to be true. Health clin-
ics continue to record local cases of water-
related diseases such as gastroenteritis, ear,
eye and skin infections.
This comes as no surprise as river
water quality testing, facilitated by the GEF-
IWCAM Demonstration Project, reveals high
levels of Escherichia coli bacteria. Es-
cherichia coli, more commonly referred to as
E.coli bacteria are found in the guts of animals
and, when found in water, are indicators of
fecal contamination.
Pig farms appear to be culpable for
the deteriorating quality of the rivers as there
has been a proliferation of pig farms in the
watershed over the years. It does not take a
stretch of the imagination to realize the ripple
(Continued on page 7)

BACKGROUND ON THE GEF-IWCAM
PROJECT:

The Global Environment Facility-funded Integrating Watershed and
CoastalAreas Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States
(GEF-IWCAM) Project was approved by the Global Environment Facility
(GEF) in May 2004. Implementing agencies are the United Nations Envi-
ronment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (UNDP). Executing agencies are the Secretariat of the
Cartagena Convention (UNEP-CAR/RCU), the Caribbean Environmental
Health Institute (CEHI) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The thirteen participating SIDS are: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas,
Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica,
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and
Trinidad and Tobago. The length of the Project is 5years and commenced
in the second quarter of 2005. It is expected to end in July 2011. The
Project Coordinating Unit is located at the CEHI, as agreed by the Imple-
menting and ExecutingAgencies and the participating countries.

(Continued from page 2)

and making announcements on radio and during religious meetings.
Schools are invaluable centres for sharing information about the
GEF-IWCAM Project. Teachers lead their students in the creation of
informative project posters, and some students have been invited to
participate in research activities and surveys.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) stakeholder meet-
ings also have been held with experts from government and NGO's
to inform and encourage participation in the formation of a data col-
lection, sharing and management mechanism. A GIS training work-
shop is also being made available to all GIS stakeholders to ensure
that the end-users of the multi-sector GIS system understand how to
manage and use data made available through this project.
During these meetings, various sources of existing Andros
data were collected and evaluated, and are now being used in the
development of the Project. TNC, the primary NGO project partner,
has also completed a Rapid Ecological Assessment of the west
coast of Andros and developed a Conservation Area Plan which is
included as a component of the Project master plan.
However in order to work consistently and uniformly in such
a large territory, technical experts must be able to spatially define the
project boundaries and the biological targets requiring assessment.
In fulfillment of this need, the general project boundary to be man-
aged by the LSUP was defined using topographic maps, and satellite
imanerv Geonranhic and political boundaries were established in-

Bountiful Harvest
Innovation in Cuba's Demo Project

The GEF-IWCAM Demonstration
Project in Cuba, "Application oflWCAM
Concepts at Cienfuegos Bay and Water-
shed", has been varied in its approach,
ranging from support for establishment of a
comprehensive monitoring programme to
education of primary school students on the
IWCAM approach.

Among notable achievements have
been their agricultural activities, in both soil
conservation and agro-forestry. Last year,
we featured photos from the Sarduy Farm
(see the March 2009 newsletter). This year,
we are pleased to share photos from the La
Sabanita, La Sierrita, and San Juan Farms
in Cienfuegos Province.

4

1. View from the Upper Cienfuegos Water-
shed.
2. Bananas are grown at La Sabanita, for con-
sumption and sale.
3. Decorative plants are also grown at La Sa-
banita, perhaps for sale in the future.
4. Citrus is grown among the native trees.
5. Shade-grown coffee is being dried-both for
consumption and sale (a high-value crop).

6. 7. 8. The San Juan farm cultivates micro-
organisms to assist in the process of composting
and fertilization. This technology, while simple,
is innovative and proving to be highly effective.

9. 10. Livestock on the San Juan Farm are
raised in a very sustainable manner. Great care
is given to their grazing and their waste is effec-
tively re-used. Animal products from the farm
are then sold to government for use as part of
the children's feeding programmes.

La Sabanita and La Sierrita are agro-forestry farms which fo-
cus upon maintaining forest cover and/or reforestation, while produc-
ing significant agricultural yields. Cuban counterparts have provided
these farmers with technical guidance and material support while test-
ing out new and innovative techniques.

The San Juan farm is a well-established farm that, with the
support of the GEF-IWCAM Project, is focusing its efforts on soil con-
servation, through the cultivation of specific organisms for composting
and fertilizing, irrigation techniques, and other practices.

More information on these and other activities can be obtained
from the Demonstration Project Manager, Alain Munoz Caravaca at:
alain@gestion.ceac.cu

St. Lucia's Water Resource Manage-

ment Agency benefits from TCC with

Jamaica

Among its goals, the GEF-IWCAM project seeks to
improve the capacity of Participating Countries in areas re-
lated to watershed and coastal areas management. The pro-
ject has identified Technical Cooperation among Countries
(TCC) as an effective means of achieving this goal. In this
regard, in October 2009, the Project provided financial sup-
port for two staff members of St. Lucia's newly established
Water Resource Management Agency (WRMA) to undergo a
two-week secondment (from October 26 to November 7,
2009) in various aspects of water management at Jamaica's
Water Resource Authority (WRA).

The WRA was considered to be most suitable for
training, because of its highly qualified, professional and
technical staff, its experience working with varied water re-
sources (both ground and surface water) and its leading role
in water management in the Caribbean.

The overall objective of the secondment was to pro-
vide an opportunity for the WRMA to understudy the opera-
tions and management of a functional entity responsible for
managing water resources. This exposure would contribute
to building the capacity required within the WRMA to carry
out its mandate, that is, to manage the water resources of
Saint Lucia in a sustainable manner through principles of
integrated water resources management. With its increased
capacity in areas such as water resources monitoring, plan-
ning and assessment, integrated watershed and water re-
sources management, and water resources conservation,
the WRMA will be better positioned to enhance and facilitate
the exit strategy of the GEF-IWCAM project and to replicate
the good practices and lessons learnt under the local and
regional GEF-IWCAM demo projects.

Mr. Faustinus Monero, Acting Director, and Mr. Jun-
ior Mathurin, Field Technician, participated in the training. In
order to maximize the two weeks allotted to the exercise, Mr.
Monero focused on the institutional and management as-
pects of the WRA, while Mr. Mathurin focused on the field
work and other practical and technical aspects of the WRA.

Mr. Monero was engaged in a series of meetings
and discussions with management, including all Head of
Units within the WRA, to assess their vision, role, structure,
operations, past challenges and constraints, and strategies
to overcome these challenges. Mr. Mathurin was in the
meantime assigned to the Resource Monitoring Unit (RMU)
to understudy its activities. Exposing Mr. Mathurin to hydro-
metry, stream gauging, and data processing was a high pri-
ority, because of the need of WRMA to obtain hydrological
data and to reestablish the national hydrological network that
was destroyed by Tropical Storm Debbie. The reestablish-
ment of the network is long overdue and is now an urgent
priority. When fully established, the hydrological network will
generate data that would be critical for climate change stud-
ies, drought monitoring, and water allocation purposes.

Following the secondment, Mr. Monero reported that
this technical cooperation was a perfect and timely opportu-
nity to expose the officers of the WRMA to the operations
and management of a leading water resource management
agency. The two weeks were well utilized to build capacity
in field work, practical, technical, and managerial issues. The
activities and experiences were enriching and well designed
to achieve the intended objectives. The WRMA has recently
resumed stream flow measurement, that is, spot measure-
ment, and will be sourcing funding to reestablish the hydro-
logical network island-wide.

TCC is a valuable facility which countries should
consider as they seek to develop their human resources as
well as technical programmes. In this way countries with
limited financial, human and other resources can benefit
from those with more expertise and experience in specific
areas.

J Mathurin:
Bore hole level
measurement
in thefield

(Continued from page 1) ...Fond D'or Waters on WWD 2010

effect! Farmers rely on water abstraction for the purpose of
irrigation. If they can help it, no one wants to water crops
with dirty water, especially water which is laden with fecal
matter and bacteria.
This has prompted the Caribbean Agricultural Re-
search and Development Institute (CARDI) to enter a col-
laborative partnership with a family owned and operated pig
farm (the Mathurin pig farm), to implement a pilot and dem-
onstration Payment for Environmental Services (PES) pro-
gramme. This PES programme is a watershed manage-
ment incentive. It encourages pig farmers to adopt sustain-
able environmental practices which result in major benefits
to the society.
As part of the agreement, the pilot pig farm is cur-
rently undergoing renovations and construction to include: a
separator (for the separation of liquid and solid components
of the waste); a two-chambered septic tank (for the capture
of the liquid waste); a soakaway (for filtering by the soil);
and a composting shed (for dry treatment of the solid com-
ponent of waste in order for it to be used as manure).

Sharing GEF-IWCAM Climate and

Water Experiences in South
America

GEF-IWCAM Technical Coordinator,
Sasha Beth Gottlieb, once again found her-
self in the southern part of the Americas, at-
tending a workshop aimed at training journal-
ists and communicators on water issues with
a focus on the challenge of climate change.
The workshop which took place in Montevi-
deo, Uruguay, 10-12 December 2009 was
jointly sponsored by UN Water and UN Habi-
tat was targeted to journalists and communi-
cators on water issues. See the presentation
at: http://www.iwcam.org/resources/project-coordination-
unit-presentations/gef-iwcam-presentation-about-water-
and-climate-change-communication-and-outreach-
spanish-presentacion-de-gef-iwcam-sobre-comunicacion-
y-concientizacion-relacionadas-con-agua-y-clima-espanol/
view

scented Beach, Montevideo

The pig farm, in the later phases of the project, is
expected to employ additional treatment methods. Biologi-
cal treatment through Effective Micro-organism (EM) tech-
nology is expected to positively influence the break down of
organic matter and result in additional reductions in E.coli
counts. EM technology has been used successfully in Latin
American countries and in other parts of the world.
This means that as compensation for improved wa-
ter quality CARDI will provide the Mathurins with technical
assistance. Technical assistance will take the form of: train-
ing to enable the Mathurins to manage the modified pig
farm; transferring of EM technology; and, educating the
Mathurins on the preparation of the EM solution.
Monitoring through systematic testing will determine
the effectiveness of these initiatives in improving water
quality. After all, water keeps no secrets!

This article was provided by the GEF-IWCAM St Lucia
Demonstration Project

For more information check the CEF-5 website at http://www.cehi.org.Ic/cef5/index.htm
or contact the CEF secretariat at cef5()cehi.org.lc.

World Water Day 2010: Clean Water for a Healthy World

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention
on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater re-
sources.

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly re-
sponded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year the theme World Water Day
is: "Clean Water for a Healthy World".

Check the website out for additional information and resources:
http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/flashindex.html

Participating Country Focal Points, Demonstration Projects and others are invited to submit articles. Please contact
Donna Spencer at dspencer@cehi.org.lc
Contact Information:
GEF-IWCAM Project Coordination Unit
P.O. Box 1111, The Morne, Castries, Saint Lucia
Tel: (758)-452-2501/1412; Fax: (758)-453-2721
E-mail: dspencer@cehi.org.lc

Cle.m Imel W I IIWorld