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cultural heritage, development of transport and communication infrastructure, and
enhanced tourism and trade along the borders. The main purpose of the ACT is to
promote the development of the Amazon Basin while reconciling the dual goals of
economic growth and environmental preservation.
Despite the long-standing ACT, there has been little shared information or
cooperation resulting from this treaty to coordinate between the eight countries
within the Basin. Concern is growing about a hydropower race in which there
will be winners and losers. The pace of project development is so fast that institutions and research organizations can barely meet the requirements of the environmental impact statements, and data sharing has been guarded by the construction
companies due to litigation and protests by civil society and ethnic minorities
affected by these hydroelectric dam projects. The challenges for cooperation and
problems from conflict are only exacerbated in projects developed in cross-border areas.
Thus, institutional capacity for transboundary governance is considered to be
low, in part because of low levels of coordination, in a political context that is characterized by centralized governments. The complexity of watershed dynamics is
increased by high levels of income inequality and sociocultural heterogeneity.
Land use governance in the Amazon River Basin has undergone significant
changes at multiple scales in recent decades. There have been some successful
cross-border, national, and municipal governance initiatives. First, the Latin
America Water Funds Partnership provides “Water Funds” that help strengthen integrated watershed management and governance of water resources through the
financing of long-term conservation initiatives. Funds also provide technical and
financial assistance for water management and support local stakeholders in implementing and facilitating information exchange between communities and relevant
water management actors (LAWFP 2017).
These funds are leveraging the concept of payment for ecosystem services, and
several more such programs are in development throughout the Amazon Basin. The
Amazon Waters Initiative, created by the Wildlife Conservation Society to identify
important areas for fisheries across the Amazon, is producing useful data needed for
effective cross-boundary governance. The Amazon Waters Initiative seeks to promote a vision of the Amazon Basin, in which the region is valued not just for its rich
tropical forests and its importance for carbon storage, but for its role as the world’s
greatest and most diverse freshwater system.
At the national level, law enforcement capacity has increased, and downstream
industries linked to commodity chains responsible for deforestation have begun to
monitor some of their suppliers’ impacts on forests. There are also examples of
“Green Municipalities” supported by public–private partnerships (such as the
Nature Conservancy and The Ministry of the Environment of Brazil) that are helping to reduce illegal deforestation and track and plan for deforestation driven by
development and conversion to farmland. Community-based collaborative fisheries
management combined with regulation and capacity building for local governments
is leading to the recovery of some fishing stocks.
R. B. Richardson
cultural heritage, development of transport and communication infrastructure, and
enhanced tourism and trade along the borders. The main purpose of the ACT is to
promote the development of the Amazon Basin while reconciling the dual goals of
economic growth and environmental preservation.
Despite the long-standing ACT, there has been little shared information or
cooperation resulting from this treaty to coordinate between the eight countries
within the Basin. Concern is growing about a hydropower race in which there
will be winners and losers. The pace of project development is so fast that institutions and research organizations can barely meet the requirements of the environmental impact statements, and data sharing has been guarded by the construction
companies due to litigation and protests by civil society and ethnic minorities
affected by these hydroelectric dam projects. The challenges for cooperation and
problems from conflict are only exacerbated in projects developed in cross-border areas.
Thus, institutional capacity for transboundary governance is considered to be
low, in part because of low levels of coordination, in a political context that is characterized by centralized governments. The complexity of watershed dynamics is
increased by high levels of income inequality and sociocultural heterogeneity.
Land use governance in the Amazon River Basin has undergone significant
changes at multiple scales in recent decades. There have been some successful
cross-border, national, and municipal governance initiatives. First, the Latin
America Water Funds Partnership provides “Water Funds” that help strengthen integrated watershed management and governance of water resources through the
financing of long-term conservation initiatives. Funds also provide technical and
financial assistance for water management and support local stakeholders in implementing and facilitating information exchange between communities and relevant
water management actors (LAWFP 2017).
These funds are leveraging the concept of payment for ecosystem services, and
several more such programs are in development throughout the Amazon Basin. The
Amazon Waters Initiative, created by the Wildlife Conservation Society to identify
important areas for fisheries across the Amazon, is producing useful data needed for
effective cross-boundary governance. The Amazon Waters Initiative seeks to promote a vision of the Amazon Basin, in which the region is valued not just for its rich
tropical forests and its importance for carbon storage, but for its role as the world’s
greatest and most diverse freshwater system.
At the national level, law enforcement capacity has increased, and downstream
industries linked to commodity chains responsible for deforestation have begun to
monitor some of their suppliers’ impacts on forests. There are also examples of
“Green Municipalities” supported by public–private partnerships (such as the
Nature Conservancy and The Ministry of the Environment of Brazil) that are helping to reduce illegal deforestation and track and plan for deforestation driven by
development and conversion to farmland. Community-based collaborative fisheries
management combined with regulation and capacity building for local governments
is leading to the recovery of some fishing stocks.
R. B. Richardson