Water Resource Management (BR0109)

Commitment 10: Improve the Information and Water Resources National System (SNIRH) for the strengthening of Comities located at critic areas in order to promote an integrated management over Water Resources.
Lead government institution National Water Agency - ANA
Civil servant in charge for implementing at lead government institution Alexandre Lima
Position - Department Coordinator for Conjuncture and Information Management
E-mail alexlima@ana.gov.br
Telephone (61) 2109-5365
Other involved actors Government National Water Agency - ANA
Ministry of the Environment - MMA
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply - MAPA
Civil Society World Resources Institute – WRI Brasil
Article 19
Esquel Foundation
Observatory for the Water Governance
University of São Paulo - USP
Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed Lack of equilibrium/parity between government and civil society on decisive spaces related to the management of hydric resources.
Main objective Turn water issues priority on public policies agenda through a better planning, monitoring process and evaluation of impacts from management instruments.
Commitment short description The commitment intends to find mechanisms to enable the collection and disclosure of public policies data that present repercussion or suffer impact due to the hydric resources management.
OGP Challenge addressed by the Commitment Increase the availability of information about governmental activities.
Support civic participation.
Increase the access to new technologies in order to promote disclosure and accountability.
Commitment relevance Greater transparency over water situation in the country as well as for challenges faced in order to improve its availability in quality and quality.
Goal Recognize the importance of the decentralized and participative management related to hydric resources
Situation Initiated in October 2018
Results description Not available
Implemented until July/2020

Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfill the Commitment Start date: End date: Responsible:
1. Mapping and selection of critical areas
10/01/2018
10/31/2019 WRI*
ANA
MMA*
2. Workshops to train and evaluate the National System for Information on Hydric Resources (SNIRH) for basin committee and civil society.

03/01/2019

11/30/2019
ANA*
MMA *
3. Online survey about the National System for Information on Hydric Resources (SNIRH)
06/01/2019
21/31/2019 Article 19*
ANA
Esquel Foundation
4. Mapping and registration, on a public document, about missing information on SNIRH
11/01/2019
01/31/2020 Article 19*
Water Observatorium
Esquel Foundation
5. Evaluation and prioritization of changing suggestions for the SNIRH as well as missing information on the System, including alteration planning to be executed involving government and civil society.

02/01/2020

03/31/2020

ANA*
6. Implementation of improvement actions on SNIRH considered feasible until the end of the 4º Action Plan period
04/01/2020
07/31/2020
ANA*
7. Report on the information appropriation of SNIRH by the basin committees in critical selected areas
06/01/2019
06/31/2020 Water Observatorium*
USP
WRI
8. Training for the development of networks with representatives of different segments that participate in collegiate instances of the National System for Hydric Resources Management (SINGREH)

08/01/2019

05/31/2020
MMA*
Water Observatorium
USP

Design Report

10. Open Government and Water Resources

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Turn water issues priority on public policies agenda through a better planning, monitoring process and evaluation of impacts from management instruments.”

10.1. Mapping and selection of critical areas

10.2. Workshops to train and evaluate the National System for Information on Hydric Resources (SNIRH) for basin committee and civil society.

10.3. Online survey about the National System for Information on Hydric Resources (SNIRH)

10.4. Mapping and registration, on a public document, about missing information on SNIRH

10.5. Evaluation and prioritization of changing suggestions for the SNIRH as well as missing information on the System, including alteration planning to be executed involving government and civil society.

10.6. Implementation of improvement actions on SNIRH considered feasible until the end of the 3^o Action Plan period

10.7. Report on the information appropriation of SNIRH by the basin committees in critical selected areas

10.8. Training for the development of networks with representatives of different segments that participate in collegiate instances of the National System for Hydric Resources Management (SINGREH)”

Start Date: January 2018                                                                           End Date: July 2020

Editorial note: to see the complete text, visit https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/brazil-national-action-plan-2018-2020/.

Context and Objectives

This commitment aims to improve water management information, particularly data for water-critical areas. The commitment seeks to make water issues a priority on public policy agendas and create public monitoring and evaluating mechanisms. During consultation, participants noted challenges around water policy. These included insufficient strategic information for government and civil society to monitor water resources, inadequate mechanisms for civic participation, and the low priority given to water issues in policy debates. [71]

Marcus Fuckner (Water National Agency) [72] highlighted the potential of the commitment to increase access to information on hydric basin policies. Joara Marchezini (of the civil society organization Article 19 Brasil) noted that the commitment would enhance existing mechanisms of civic participation around the use of bays.

The commitment proposes building capacity and collecting information from civil society on improving the National System for Information on Hydric Resources (Milestones 10.2 and 10.3), mapping areas for improvement in the system (10.1, 10.4, and 10.5), improving the system (10.6), and increasing its use (10.7 and 10.8).

The commitment is specific enough to be verifiable. It addresses two OGP values: access to information (through the increased data published on water resource management) and civic participation (through the methods used to improve the database system).

The commitment has a minor potential impact that will nevertheless result in three improvements: a system that promotes open access to information, milestones increasing civil society’s use of it, and a link between access to information and existing mechanisms of civic participation (in a broad sense).

Next steps

The commitment is highly relevant and should be prioritized in future action plans. It addresses a theme that was present in the second action plan (open data for cistern use in arid areas). However, the milestones do not need to be carried forward if they are completed.

To increase the commitment’s potential impact, certain steps could be taken during implementation—such as highlighting how civic participation uses data or and connecting other datasets—to solve water shortage challenges.

Transitional Results Report

Commitment 10. Open government and water resources

Completion: COMPLETE

This commitment aimed to prioritize water-related issues on the public policy agenda through improved planning, monitoring, capacity-building, and evaluation of management instruments. Coordinated by the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA), it sought to enhance the National Water Resources Information System (SNIRH) through a participatory process and to build the capacity of committees in critical areas for integrated water resources management. [136]

Under Milestone 1, ANA conducted a mapping and selection of critical areas, [137] by leveraging an available situation report from 2017 [138] and mapping critical basins. [139] Under Milestone 2, ANA organized a workshop to instruct and assess the SNIRH with the basin committee and civil society at the 11^th National Meeting of Basin Committees in Foz do Iguaçu on 21–25 October 2019. [140]

An online consultation on the SNIRH to understand user experience regarding the system's structure, content coverage, and access methods was conducted (Milestone 3). [141] Subsequently, a document to consolidate responses garnered from the public online consultation was published (Milestone 4). [142]

Under Milestone 5, ANA evaluated and prioritized suggestions to improve the SNIRH and the system's missing information. The results of this evaluation and prioritization process were reported in a document. [143] Subsequently, ANA undertook actions to improve the SNIRH. This included the release of a new version of the SNIRH metadata portal, [144] which was presented at the Brazilian Symposium on Spatial Data Infrastructures [145] and in a virtual class for the audience of the University of Brasília, [146] which had been viewed 720 times as of October 2021. [147] For Milestone 7, ANA prepared a report on the use of SNIRH information by the basin committees of the selected critical areas. [148] Finally, with Milestone 8 ANA launched an online course for the public to better take advantage of the SNIRH as an informational, monitoring, and water resources management tool. [149]