Challenges for a sustainable management of Ecuadorian water resources

Abstract

This paper depicts opinions that condense the thinking of different sectors (i.e., academia, government, private sector, etc.) dealing in certain degree with the management of Ecuadorian water resources. Particularly, the manuscript echoes the main conclusions of a national Workshop that was held in Quito by mid 2014, about the sustainable use of water resources in Ecuador, with the purpose of proposing a research agenda adapted to the priority needs of governmental agencies. The paper discusses several key issues for the management of Ecuadorian water resources such as the urgent need for an active involvement of the national academy into the problem analysis/solving process for water management purposes, in a view of sustainable development, and as a way of warranting the effectiveness of the national policy for development oriented research that the current government is promoting. Herein, there is a need for complementing this policy by promoting a national system that foster communication between the water governmental institutions and the scientific community in terms of opportunities (financial and logistical) for scientific research in water resources and stakeholders engagement. Further, the paper stresses the urgent need of gathering and structuring all relevant knowledge/information/data into a unique repository for decision support that relies on auxiliary tools such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), numerical modelling and associated uncertainty analyses, etc.; this in conjunction with the establishment and maintenance of a national monitoring network of water resources related environmental variables.