Mexico’s National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and the Mexican Fund for Nature Conservation (FMCN) have published a Community Water Monitoring Manual.
The ‘Community Water Monitoring Manual for Livestock and Agroforestry Watersheds in Chiapas, Chihuahua, Jalisco and Veracruz’ is a tool for project beneficiaries to determine the impact of restoration, conservation and best production practices on the health of aquatic ecosystems located in the area of impact, particularly springs, streams, reservoirs and lakes.
The community approach integrates the assessment of different physical-chemical, landscape and biological parameters, which together provide information on ecological quality; an approach that seeks to know what elements make up the aquatic ecosystem, how it functions and whether this allows both natural processes and benefits for people, also known as ecosystem services, to be maintained.
The Community Water Monitoring (CWM) projects aims to ensure that people are not only the generators of information, but that they have the tools to interpret the results and that this supports better decision making on land use, ecosystem conservation and biodiversity.
The manual is aimed at community monitors and is intended to guide MCA exercises. It consists of three sections; the first section covers ideas and concepts on which monitoring is based, general safety measures and guidance on good practice. The second section provides information on each of the parameters to be assessed, a step-by-step breakdown of the methods and some concepts for interpreting the results. Finally, the third section contains a glossary of key words used throughout the document (in italics) and a list of references used in the preparation of the document.
The document has been prepared as part of the projects ‘Linking watershed health with sustainable livestock and agroforestry production’ (CONECTA) and ‘River restoration for climate change adaptation’ (RÍOS), led by the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN) and the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), in coordination with Fondo Golfo de México, A.C., Fondo Noroeste y Occidente, A.C., and Fondo Noroeste y Occidente, A.C., Fondo Noroeste y Occidente, A.C., and Fondo Noroeste y Occidente, A.C., in coordination with the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN), Fondo Noroeste y Occidente, A.C., and Fondo Conservación El Triunfo, A.C..
