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1. Coherent landscape planning
Coherent planning across water, energy, food, ecosystems and climate change is essential to achieve inherently cross-cutting
goals in each sector. Whilst mechanisms exist to promote policy integration, effective coordination and implementation are
limited by governance gaps. With the region’s countries planning to expand hydropower infrastructure and output, for instance,
optimising outcomes at the system scale rather than the project scale will be increasingly important. Criteria for prioritising
hydropower developments at the basin scale could include river connectivity, indigenous territories, mining concessions,
productive agricultural land, and deforestation and climate change scenarios.
2. Strengthen water governance
Weak water governance is a key barrier to horizontal and vertical coordination across water, energy and food sectors. Water
policymaking is highly fragmented within central governments and often decentralised with little vertical coordination. Weak
management by utility companies, poor quality infrastructure, and low water pricing are all challenges to water-use eficiency that can
be addressed by improving governance.
3. Improve monitoring systems
Water pollution from poor waste management and treatment, agricultural inputs such as nitrates, and the extractives industry is
a major threat to the region’s water security. Information on water quality is patchy, and better monitoring systems are needed to
identify issues and analyse interventions. Monitoring systems can also support eficient resource use and allocation in watersheds,
industries and households.
4. Quantify trade-offs
Accessible decision support tools that can help stakeholders to build future scenarios, identify policy responses, and quantify
the resulting economic, environmental and social trade-offs are needed to help decision-makers identify ‘quick wins’ and ‘low
regret’ options for optimising water, energy and food security. Analytical tools such as Water Evaluation and Planning WEAP
and Caribbean climate change risk and adaptation CCORAL are already being used by decision-makers in the region. However,
there is a need for tools that encompass the whole water-energy-
food nexus to ensure fully integrated outcomes.
5. Decouple agriculture from deforestation
Agriculture is the largest driver of deforestation in the region. To transition from business-as-usual to deforestation-free agricultural
supply chains, investment is required in integrated approaches such as agro-ecological zoning, sustainable intensiication and
restoration of degraded lands recognising trade-offs with water and energy, and human and technical capacity for green
commodity production. A landmark set of commitments by companies across the globe to transition to zero-deforestation
supply chains by 2020 offers a further opportunity to create demand for green commodity production in Latin America.
Ultimately, prioritising and investing in diversifying economies beyond the exploitation of primary resources offers a longer-term
vision for climate-compatible development.
6. Adjust price signals
The historic subsidisation and low pricing of water has promoted ineficiency and does not relect the true cost of its use or of
negative externalities to the environment, such as pollution. This is also true for agriculture, energy and mineral production,
where negative environmental externalities such as deforestation, pollution and degradation are not internalised in the cost of goods
produced. Payment for Ecosystem Services PES programmes in the region represent a step towards recognising the value of
ecosystems and the costs of environmental externalities; but a systemic shift is required to internalise all externalities in the costs
of resource use. At the same time, social tariffs and programmes need to be put in place to ensure that higher costs do not
undermine water, food and energy security for the poorest.
3. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:
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1. International commitments
Ambitious multi-lateral agreements on the environment and development are inherently cross-cutting; therefore an
integrated approach will be essential to achieve their economic, environmental and social goals. In particular, forthcoming
agreements on the Sustainable Development Goals and climate change mitigation and adaption under the UNFCCC directly impact
and rely on water, energy and food security.
2. Climate change adaptation
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