"Source": Ministerio de Asuntos Campesinos y Agropecuarios (2005)
Possible climate change impacts on irrigated agriculture
Although specific impacts of Climate Change on irrigation in Bolivia are still unknown, phenomena such as a high intensity El Nino in the form of floods, droughts, frost and hail are generally expected to affect Bolivia. Natural disasters directly affect the country’s development, because it hurts its economic results, weaken its social well-being, cause capital losses, and damage the roads and energy and irrigation infrastructure. Such losses, in turn, influence economic indicators such as inflation and production, which in turn increase poverty
Floods and landslides in the rainy season affect a wide range of infrastructure. The more recent landslides in 1997 and 1998 in the communities of Cotahuma, Mokotor, and the Kunii area, in the department of La Paz, caused 24 deaths and destroyed 264 homes. An unprecedented hail storm in 2002 also in La Paz caused 70 deaths and damaged was estimated at more than US$70 million. Droughts often recur, their area of incidence is quite large, and they are a major cause of migration from the countryside to the cities.[cite web ]
url=http://imagebank.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2007/01/03/000020953_20070103114548/Rendered/PDF/382830PAPER0BO101OFFICIAL0USE0ONLY1.pdf
title=Bolivia – Public policy options for the well-being of all. Chapter 19: Environmental Degradation
author= Sanchez-Triana, Ernesto (et al.)
publisher=World Bank
date=2006
pages=pp. 427
accessdate=2008-04-11] In addition, increase of temperatures on the Andes, head of glacierized basins in Bolivia, may increase seasonal runoff in the sort term and increase agricultural dependency on annual rainfall in the medium and long term. For example, Bolivia’s Chacaltaya glacier, situated 20km NE of the city of La Paz, has lost 82% of its surface area since 1982 and may completely melt by 2013.[cite web ]
url=http://ambio.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1639%2F0044-7447(2000)029%5B0416%3AGEITTA%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1
title=Tropical climate change recorded by a glacier of the central Andes during the last decades of the 20th century: Chacaltaya, Bolivia
author= Francou, Bernard (et al.)
publisher=AMBIO: Journal of the human environment
date=2000
pages=p. 1
accessdate=2008-06-23] (See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0qDc4hXUSY Impacts of Glacier Retreat in the Andes:Documentary] )External cooperation
The World Bank is currently undertaken a US 78.1 million Second Participatory Rural Investment Project with the objective of piloting the consolidation of institutional arrangements between the national, prefecture and municipal governments and civil society for sustainable management of sub-national public investment in irrigated agriculture, forestry and fishing with an emphasis on territorial development. The World Bank is also supporting with US$12.5 million the implementation of the National Plan for Sustainable Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRRES), thought the Bolivia Emergency Recovery and Disaster Management Project aimed at strengthening the national system for risk management and rehabilitation, reconstruction, and small mitigation works. [cite web
url=http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2008/03/11/000333037_20080311001306/Rendered/PDF/410690PJPR0REP1y100IDA1R20081029612.pdf
title=Bolivia Emergency Recovery and Disaster Management Project ] These works will be financed in specific areas determined to have been particularly affected by El Nino in the past.
The Inter American Development Bank is currently financing a US$ 270,000 "Evaluation and Design of Irrigation Project" to evaluating the irrigation systems in operation. [cite web
url=http://www.iadb.org/projects/Project.cfm?project=BO-T1039&Language=English project
title=BO-T1039 : Evaluation and Design of Irrigation Project ] The IDB together with the GTZ provided technical and financial assistance to Bolivia’s government in the implementation of a National Irrigation Plan, PRONAR that finalized on 2005. [cite web
url=http://www.gtz.de/en/
title=GTZ ] This evaluation is the groundwork for further collaboration among IDB and the Bolivia’s government.
Lessons learned from Bolivia’s PRONAR
The Water Ministry identified a number of lessons learned from the evaluation of PRONAR from 1996 to 2005. Some of the key aspects are:
*Infrastructure With PRONAR infrastructure was designed based on irrigation water requirements and water availability. It is necessary to also incorporate social, hydrological and topographical data when designing irrigation infrastructure to avoid technical problems during implementation. It is also necessary having strong local institutions able to manage and monitor implementation of irrigations works.
* Legal framework A well defined legal framework defining sectoral policy regarding public investment in private irrigation systems is crucial especially determining responsibility of operation and maintenance of public funded irrigation infrastructure.
*Economic impact of irrigation investment Irrigated agriculture has a major economic impact when it is applied to high value crops and farmers have a connection with a local or national markets. The connection with local or national markets is determined by access to transportation.
See also
* Water supply and sanitation in Bolivia
* Water resources management in Bolivia
References
WikiProject
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