Building Resilience in Times of Drought: Protecting water and livelihoods for farming families

Costa Rica is addressing climate-driven water deficits in the Reventazón River basin by constructing farm-level water reservoirs. This initiative, part of the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2022–2026, aims to protect vegetable production and hydroelectric generation by improving irrigation efficiency and rainwater harvesting. The project emphasizes interinstitutional coordination and community participation, with plans to scale from a pilot to approximately 100 reservoirs over the next three years to secure livelihoods and national food security.

• The Reventazón River basin is a critical national asset for Costa Rica, providing 85% of the country's vegetable production, 45% of its electricity generation, and 23% of the drinking water for the Greater Metropolitan Area.
• Climate change has caused rainfall patterns to shift in the mountainous western sector of the Reventazón River catchment, leading to water deficits of up to 30% of normal levels, which threatens local ecosystems, farmers, and citizens.
• Costa Rica's National Adaptation Plan (NAP) sets specific targets for the agricultural sector to increase resilience, including the operation of 25 reservoirs on horticultural farms in the cantons of Oreamuno, Alvarado, and Cartago, the support of 285 farms with financial resources for resilient practices, and the production of at least 1,430 hectares using efficient irrigation.
• The construction of farm-level reservoirs provides direct benefits by allowing farmers to optimize planting and irrigation timing, harvest rainwater, and reduce chemical pesticide use through healthier crops, thereby ensuring more reliable harvests and year-round production.
• Following a successful pilot project characterized by community participation and interinstitutional coordination, Costa Rica intends to construct approximately 100 agricultural reservoirs over the next three years using public and international funding.

APA

Arce, I. L., & Mora, V. (2024). Building Resilience in Times of Drought: Protecting water and livelihoods for farming families. NAP Global Network. https://napglobalnetwork.org/stories/building-resilience-times-drought/

Chicago

Arce, Ivonne López, and Vesalio Mora. Building Resilience in Times of Drought: Protecting water and livelihoods for farming families. NAP Global Network, 2024. https://napglobalnetwork.org/stories/building-resilience-times-drought/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Arce |first1=Ivonne López |last2=Mora |first2=Vesalio |title=Building Resilience in Times of Drought: Protecting water and livelihoods for farming families |publisher=NAP Global Network |date=12 October 2024 |url=https://napglobalnetwork.org/stories/building-resilience-times-drought/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{arce2024building, author = {Arce, Ivonne López and Mora, Vesalio}, title = {{Building Resilience in Times of Drought: Protecting water and livelihoods for farming families}}, institution = {NAP Global Network}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://napglobalnetwork.org/stories/building-resilience-times-drought/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }