Case 1: Asobolo – the Bolo River Water-User Association in Cauca Valley, Colombia

Cauca Valley is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of Colombia where sugar cane, soybeans, sorghum, sunflowers and cotton are produced. In the 1990s, the extension of the area cultivated with sugar cane increased the water demand for irrigation (Echavarria, 2002).

This situation together with the loss of natural coverage of water sources in the upper watersheds resulted in water scarcity problems.

Under these circumstances the organization of sugar cane producers, with the regional environmental authority (Corporación Autónoma Regional del Valle del Cauca, CVC) and other stakeholders created several water user associations oriented to develop conservation activities in the watersheds. Asobolo, the water user association of Bolo River located in the municipalities of Pradera, Candelaria and Palmira in the Cauca Valley province, was created in 1993.

The 173 members of the association contribute a voluntary fee paid every trimester. The amount of the fee is determined by the General Assembly of the Association and is paid by each member according to her/his water consumption, (the information of water consumption is obtained from CVC based on the water concession of each user water user). For the year 2008 the fee established was USD 2,33/lt/s.

The providers of watershed ecosystem services are farmers living up-stream, who are compensated for either changing or maintaining specific land uses (e.g. reforestation of water sources areas), in order to provide water flow regulation and water quantity, the ecosystem services targeted by Asobolo. The compensation scheme of Asobolo consists of an in-kind payment through two principal programs with up-stream communities: a ‘social program’ and an ‘agro-environmental’ program. The payment is conditioned to the change on land uses and the active participation on the programs, but not on the effective provision of the ecosystem services targeted.

3.1.1 What is the organizational structure of the intermediary?

The water users association is a community-based intermediary (Landel Mills and Porras, 2002). It has the following organizational structure: a General Assembly where all water user members of the association participate. The General Assembly is the highest authority of the Association where decisions such as the amount of the fee to be paid and the programs to be implemented in the upstream area are taken. There is also a Governing board, an Auditor and a Managing Director. The operative level of the association consists of a Social Area, a Technical Area, an Accountant and a Secretary.

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Figure 1: Asobolo organizational structure (Morales, 2006).

3.1.2 What is the mandate of the intermediary and to whom is the intermediary accountable to?

Asobolo is a non-profit organisation and it is accountable to its members, the water users are paying the fee to finance the PES. Being a user-financed scheme, Asobolo enjoy great autonomy and has been distinguished by its independence in terms of political or religious issues. This aspect was essential from the beginning to gain credibility among the water users.

It has been also a positive aspect to receive financial resources from other organizations.

3.1.3 What interests does the intermediary associate with running the PES scheme?

Asobolo was created following the interests of the water users who are highly dependent on water for irrigation. However, given the experience of other water user associations in the region and aware of the socio economic conditions of the upstream area, the association combines its objective of ensuring the provision of water quantity and flow regulation with the improvement of the quality of life of the upstream farmers “since it is difficult, if not impossible, to involve unmotivated and needy communities" (Echavarría, 2002:12).

3.1.4 How is the intermediary financed?

The main financing sources of Asobolo are the contributions of the members of the association. From the amount collected from the water users about 45% is assigned to pay Asobolo staff (6 employees), among them the coordinators of the social and technical areas who develop the programs in the upstream area to compensate the farmers. Additional to this

General Assembly

Managing Director

Accountant Social Area Technical Area Secretary Auditor

Governing board

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source, Asobolo has developed several activities in the upstream area co-financed by different organizations from the public (local and regional level) and private sector, which in some cases duplicate the normal budget of Asobolo.

3.1.5 How does the intermediary pursue PES preparation, contracting and implement-ation?

The emerging process of the Association was led by a small group of water users and the CVC. Once the Asociation was founded, the first task was to invite the water users to be members of the Association by contributing with a voluntary fee. At the initial stage, the Watershed Environmental Plan of Bolo River elaborated by CVC was the basis to set the working priorities. In a later stage, and based on a participatory diagnosis with farmers upstream, the working priorities were adapted and a proposal of the social and agri environmental programs to be implemented in the upstream area was presented to the General Assembly, who approved them.

The contracts between Asobolo and the providers of the ecosystem services are voluntary and are based on oral agreements, consequently reducing contracting transaction costs for the farmers and for Asobolo. With previous experiences from other water users associations, which bought the farms and caused the emigration of farmers, the farmers in the upper watershed of Bolo River were distrustful and against Asobolo at the initial stage. This situation together with the poverty conditions in the upstream area led Asobolo to work based on local knowledge, on trust building and on the commitment of the communities. In this way, Asobolo staff does not request land titles from the farmers upstream as a condition for their participation in the scheme. The knowledge of Asobolo staff about farm ownership in the region, together with the commitment of the farmers are sufficient as requirements to participate in Asobolo. This approach not only reduces transaction costs for the participants and for the intermediary, but also avoids tensions between farmers and Asobolo.

The in kind payment of Asobolo to the providers of ecosystem services consist of the development of social and agri-environmental programs with 10 communities organized in 6 working groups corresponding to 6 sub-basins, in total 250 families.

The social program comprises different activities such as community organization, revolving funds managed by the communities, environmental education, training in different areas and sanitation systems. The agro-environmental program is oriented at watershed conservation, reforestation, protection of strategic ecosystems, food security and agro-ecological practices.

Asobolo carries out twice a year monitoring of the change of land uses. The monitoring activities are undertaken by the staff of Asobolo in charge of the agri-environmental and social program. In most of the cases monitoring activities are combined with courses and/or activities of the social or agri-environmental program.

3.1.6 How does the intermediary address different worldviews, interest and powers?

The Bolo River watershed is one of the areas in the country particularly affected by the armed conflict inside Colombia. There is a general perception of injustice in this region with respect

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to the marked differences in income between sugar cane farmers (wealthy farmers) and the inhabitants of the upstream areas. That is one of the arguments from guerilla groups to stay in the area. Additionally, the reduced public budget for the CVC left few financial resources for developing rural programs in the area.

With the creation of Asobolo (and in general the water user associations in the Cauca Valley), it is not only intended to ensure the provision of water ecosystem services, but also to alleviate poverty, and in a long term, to contribute to violence reduction. This explains why the scheme was designed as an in kind payment; the members of Asobolo agreed that this type of payment, including rural development activities, was more appropriate than an in cash payment to achieve the objectives of the association.

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