THE BERMEJO RIVER FLOWS
BEYOND ITS BANKS
By Charlene Porter

In the mythology of ancient times, earth, sea, and sky were the domains of different gods, each deity a separate entity with a sphere of its own. Land, water, and air were also viewed distinctly in the early practice of environmental management. Just a few decades ago, specialists tended to focus on a single problem -- air pollution or wastewater discharges or toxic dumping -- with little recognition of how one problem could affect the other. Increasingly today, environmental scientists are recognizing how the different elements of the natural world interact, and how they defy the national boundaries drawn by humankind.

In the Bermejo River Basin, shared by Argentina and Bolivia, a new approach to environmental management is being tested as a means to a better life for the many impoverished people who live there. Assessing resources and demands in an entire river watershed, the approach aims to integrate environmental and development concerns in a plan for the region's future. With financial support from international backers, Argentina and Bolivia are conducting a wide-ranging study of a border-spanning watershed that sprawls over 190,000 square kilometers. The two countries want to learn how to make better decisions about development, decisions that will preserve the environment and improve economic opportunity for the 1.2 million people of the region.

"This is the main objective, to identify the specific actions that can be taken to resolve problems of development and use of natural resources in a better way," says Jorge Roucks, a regional planner with the Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment at the Organization of American States (OAS). From its Washington, D.C., headquarters, the OAS is serving as the executing agency, manager, and funding partner in the Bermejo project, which is also receiving financial support from the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Program.

"There are many requirements for bettering the region that they must resolve using the water of the Bermejo," Roucks says. The Bermejo River Basin project will lead to a plan for sustainable development in the area.

The region has abused resources in the past, according to Enrique Bello, an agricultural economist at the OAS. "It has a history of destructive practices: deforestation, over-grazing, loss of soil cover, and erosion." Of all of these, erosion may be the single-most damaging factor; Bello even describes some places as being "like a moon landscape."

The loss of topsoil through erosion can destroy farmland, depriving farmers of their livelihood. Steady deposits of soil in the river block its channels, impeding navigation. The Bermejo flows into the La Plata river system, which Roucks calls the economic artery of the entire region. Thus the abnormally high sedimentation in the Bermejo is a great concern downstream also.

Significant accumulations of sediment contribute to flooding because the river overflows its banks in the rainy season when the river channel is too clogged to carry the flow. In February, the provincial government of Corrientes-Argentina issued a warning to people throughout the Chaco Province of northeast Argentina predicting a possibility of heavy rain and flooding through April. Last year, seasonal floods caused millions of dollars in lost crops.

Seasonal drought brings other hardships to the Tarija region of Bolivia at the headwaters of the Bermejo river. Low rainfall makes agriculture unproductive, and many farmers become temporary refugees, leaving their arid lands to subsist in some other way in Argentina.

Development as well as environmental concerns take a prominent place in the Bermejo River Basin project. Richard Meganck, director of the OAS Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment, says, "You could leave that basin as it is and allow conditions to deteriorate, and opportunities would be lost over time. Or you can invest to improve the situation and provide more opportunity. We define development as improving the quality of life, improving a person's lot in life."

Providing alternative livelihoods for people whose current activities threaten environmental conditions in the Bermejo basin is a major goal. Overlogging in the jungles is one environmentally damaging activity that the people of the region should reconsider to preserve both the forest and the river. Enrique Bello says, "The jungle is the most important area for the feeding of the river because of the rains; and if you lose this forest you lose one of the most important sources of the feeding of the river. To preserve this forest is a main issue."

The study will explore ecotourism as one strategy for forest preservation and increased economic opportunity. Bello describes ecotourism as "an activity that uses the forest, but doesn't destroy it." A related component of the study will also assess a proposal to link two national rainforest parks, one in Argentina and one in Bolivia, with a land corridor, enlarging the habitat for tropical species.

Such a binational park is in keeping with the cooperation that Argentina and Bolivia have demonstrated in their efforts to improve conditions in the Bermejo watershed. That cooperation was institutionalized in 1995 with agreement on a treaty creating the Binational Commission for the Development of the Upper Bermejo River Basin and Grande de Tarija River.

The OAS has been working with the two countries for nearly 20 years, attempting to improve conditions in the watershed. Bello says, "The Argentineans know that whatever happens upstream in Bolivia is going to affect them so they're going to work together on this."

It's a philosophy the OAS has applied throughout Latin America. Meganck says, "Years ago we started working on a watershed basis. Water doesn't respect a political boundary, nor do watersheds always respect political boundaries...and that meant we had to get agreement between or among countries...such that you are managing a resource in an integrated fashion."

The OAS is working with a variety of Latin American binational partnerships in managing water resources. Peru has engaged in separate watershed partnerships with three of its neighbors, Colombia, Brazil, and Bolivia. Brazil and Colombia have an agreement in the use of the Tabatinga-Apaporis Axis. Costa Rica and Nicaragua are working together in management of the San Juan River basin.

These and most other countries in the hemisphere sent representatives -- water managers, academics, and technical experts -- to Panama March 21-25, 1999, for the Third Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management. The conference was organized by the OAS-sponsored Inter-American Water Resources Network. "This conference will give us a detailed framework for the future, for the management of water resources, for the role of government and civil society in this task," said Meganck in advance of the meeting.

Efforts to find new answers in the Bermejo River basin are motivated by a new integrated form of environmental science, the economic hardships of the people of the region, and a new economic dynamism inspired by Mercosur, the Mercado Comun del Sur or Common Market of the South. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay formed the alliance in 1994 to strengthen economic development through integration.

The Mercosur agreement also places a special emphasis on social justice, efficient use of available resources, and preserving the environment. OAS economist Bello says this agreement will nudge the region beyond low level agriculture into a higher level of investment and industrialization than it has ever known before.

Reliable and well-managed water resources will be critical to that development, and to improvement in the way of life for the people of the Bermejo watershed region. Richard Meganck says the cooperation that Argentina and Bolivia are demonstrating is the only reasonable course for nations to follow as they attempt to manage their water resources. He says, "Water has risen to the top of the international agenda. It's either going to encourage investment or it's going to lead to war. So we better do it right."