Forestry management and water law: comparing Ecuador and Arizona

Abstract

Forestry management has enormous implications for water supplies and quality. Deforestation can impair water quality through increased pollution runoff. Invasive species in forests can decrease water quantity. Despite this relationship between water supply, water quality, and forests, few incentives exist in many jurisdictions to encourage effective forestry management. This article compares and contrasts different legal challenges and opportunities in the Paute River basin in Ecuador and in the Verde River Basin in the state of Arizona in the United States of America in encouraging improved forestry management aimed at protecting water. In Ecuador, FONAPA is an important water public-private partnership between non-governmental organizations and universities created in 2008 to improve forests within the Paute watershed in Ecuador. In Arizona, the Four Forest Restoration Initiative creates a public-private partnership for forestry management in the Verde River basin. This program has the potential to create incentives for improved forestry management in the Verde River basin. But it also creates legal problems around water rights. If forestry management results in increased stream flows, it is not clear that those investing in forestry management will receive rights to the increased stream flow rather than the presumably less valuable offset credits. Reforms will be necessary to encourage improved forestry management in the Verde basin, including rethinking the legal distinction between developed water and salvaged water. This may require examining how FONAPA was implemented in the Ecuador and how it might be adapted for …