Examining poverty and equality in water resources planning

The paper demonstrates the application of Sida's Multidimensional Poverty Analysis (MDPA) framework within the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) tool to identify inequalities in water access and land distribution in Colombia's Campoalegre Watershed. Findings reveal significant data gaps for rural areas, infrastructure capacity shortages in urban centres, and a strong correlation between small landholdings (microfundios) and an inability to meet basic food needs.

• The study identifies a significant information gap between urban and rural areas; for 28% of all demand nodes in the model, water coverage could not be estimated due to a lack of data, primarily affecting livestock, agriculture, and rural residents near headwaters.
• Urban water infrastructure in the Campoalegre watershed is insufficient for growing demands; three of the four main urban centres (Empocabal, Empocaldas, and Empumar) have water coverage of less than 85%.
• Land distribution in the Campoalegre Basin is highly unequal, with 57% of rural families living on microfundios of 3 hectares or less, which collectively account for less than 8% of the total land area.
• There is a direct link between small land ownership and extreme poverty; estimated net income for coffee producers with farms between 3 and 10 hectares is below the cost of a family food basket, meaning 82% of rural families in the watershed lack sufficient resources for food.
• The high number of small-scale farms (4,296 land owners) creates a governance challenge, making it impractical for environmental authorities like CORPOCALDAS and CARDER to regularly inspect sites for water use and wastewater management.

APA

Forni, L., Escobar, M., & Moncada, A. (2018). Examining poverty and equality in water resources planning. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/examining-poverty-and-equality-in-water-resources-planning.pdf

Chicago

Forni, Laura, Marisa Escobar, and Angélica Moncada. Examining poverty and equality in water resources planning. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2018. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/examining-poverty-and-equality-in-water-resources-planning.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Forni |first1=Laura |last2=Escobar |first2=Marisa |last3=Moncada |first3=Angélica |title=Examining poverty and equality in water resources planning |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=July 2018 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/examining-poverty-and-equality-in-water-resources-planning.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forni2018examining, author = {Forni, Laura and Escobar, Marisa and Moncada, Angélica}, title = {{Examining poverty and equality in water resources planning}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2018}, month = jul, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/examining-poverty-and-equality-in-water-resources-planning.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }