Regulatory framework
The main objective of the proposed Public Water Resources Policy is to ensure the contribution of water to the achievement of development goals and objectives and to organize activities gradually by improving the quality of public spending, promoting existing programs and adopting concrete measures to favor generating favorable conditions for integrated water management.
The Policy and Strategy proposals are based on the previously formulated situational diagnosis of water, on the relevant findings and on the proposal to adopt the paradigm of integrated water management as a means to transform the relationship between Guatemalan society and the resource.
It proposed a structure of inter-institutional action coordinated around the vision of water governance for sustainable development linked to the contributions of water to human development, the environment and the economy.
The vision of a decentralization of the GEA's water policy with the participation of six central government entities, eight municipalities in the west of the country, a community of municipalities.
The Irrigation Promotion Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food 2013-2023, aligned with the Zero Hunger Pact and the goal of reducing malnutrition and therefore poverty in the Guatemalan countryside, sets the course and establishes the strategies to develop the irrigation in Guatemala and impact in such a way that agriculture can generate new opportunities that improve the production of food, fiber and other inputs for the industry. A policy of this magnitude will also contribute significantly to the generation of employment and comprehensive development of families, mainly those who practice peasant family farming, since much of the potential to be developed is in areas where this type of producers predominates.
The National Council on Climate Change and the Secretariat of Planning and Programming of the Presidency -SEGEPLAN-, present the National Action Plan on Climate Change -PANCC-. It appears, in an orderly manner, the actions that are considered priorities to be undertaken to reduce vulnerability, improve adaptation capacity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Guatemala in the face of the effects of the phenomenon of climate change and variability. Its purpose is to guide public institutions and the different sectors of the country in the implementation of actions focused on meeting the objectives and results set forth in the Framework Law to Regulate the Reduction of Vulnerability, Mandatory Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change. and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, as guarantor of national environmental management and valuing the need for a change in behavior and attitudes of the entire population and sectors of the country, which facilitate forced adaptation to climate change, promotes the “Framework Law for Regulate Vulnerability Reduction, Mandatory Adaptation
Faced with the Effects of Climate Change and Gas Mitigation
Greenhouse Effect” (Legislative Decree 7-2013), as a
tool that makes national efforts viable towards
a sustainable development.
Institutional Framework
Purpose of facilitating coordination between the institutions with responsibilities in the water issue and updating the PNGIRH. participation of six central government entities, eight municipalities in the west of the country, a community of municipalities (focused on the protection of the upper part of the basin of the Naranjo River) and five agencies of the United Nations System.
Promotes comprehensive rural development through the transformation and modernization of the agricultural, forestry and hydrobiological sector, developing productive, organizational and commercial capacities to achieve food security and sovereignty and competitiveness with clear rules and regulations for the management of products in the national market. and international, guaranteeing the sustainability of natural resources.
It carries out actions through the Vice Ministry of Economic and Rural Development and its two directorates, the Directorate of Agricultural Development and the Directorate of Productive Infrastructure.
Guatemala has 38 watersheds, 22 of which are transboundary, that is, shared with two neighboring countries. The assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA), on groundwater potential 2011, determined that 26% of the territory has high potential - southern alluvial plains and plains-, while 47% is poor or very poor.demand represents 22% of the available water supply. Demand represents 22% of the available water supply. 37.5% was used by industry, including agribusiness. On the other hand, agricultural and forestry activities used 31.9% of the water resources.
Guatemala
The other important user -non-consumptive use-, is hydroelectric generation, which is estimated to use 24.8% .During the 2014 heat wave, the government of Guatemala registered through the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (SESAN), the evaluation of damages and losses,resulting affected a total of 249,212 families in the 22 departments of the country. At that time, it was estimated that the population affected by the loss of grain crops and a drop in food reserves was 1.5 million people.
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