The Nicaraguan Water Resources Management Initiative is a collaborative effort between the Nicaraguan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Sandia National Laboratories. It was established to assist in developing an efficient and sustainable water resources management system for Nicaragua. The Vital Issues process served as the first step in the implementation of the Initiative and was used to provide information for a project that will develop and implement an advanced information system (IS) for managing Nicaragua’s water resources. Three Vital Issues panel meetings were convened to 1) develop a mission statement and evaluation criteria for identifying and ranking the issues vital to water resources management in Nicaragua; 2) define and rank the vital issues; and 3) identify a preliminary list of information needed to address the vital issues.

Strategy

The Vital Issues process was the first step in implementing the Nicaraguan Water Resources Management Initiative (see Figure 1) to provide information that could be incorporated into a proposal for developing an advanced IS for managing Nicaragua's water resources.

Figure 1. Five phases of the Nicaraguan Water Resources Management Initiative.

Three Vital Issues panel meetings were convened for the Nicaraguan Water Resources Management Initiative at the Hotel Barceló Montelimar in Nicaragua in November 1997 and February and May 1998 to discuss water resource management in Nicaragua. Each panel was charged with tasks leading to the identification of information needed to improve the management of Nicaragua’s water resources. The panelists were representatives from the four basic institutional perspectives (government, industry, academe, and citizens’ groups (through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)) to ensure a high level of stakeholder involvement.

Setting the Context... the Vital Issues Process

Panel I, November 14, 1997, Hotel Barceló Montelimar, Nicaragua

The first Vital Issues panel established a mission statement articulating the purpose and characteristics of an information system for water resources management in Nicaragua. The panel also defined and ranked the assessment criteria used by subsequent panels to assess the relative importance of issues vital to managing Nicaragua’s water resources.

1. Goal
2. Criteria
3. Relative Importance of the Criteria

Panel II, February 10, 1998, Hotel Barceló Montelimar, Nicaragua

The second Vital Issues panel for the Nicaraguan Water Resources Management Initiative used the mission statement and the criteria developed by Panel I to identify and rank four issues that they considered vital to Nicaragua’s water resource management.

1. Vital Issues
2. Vital Issues Ranking

Panel III, May 12 and 13, 1998, Hotel Barceló Montelimar, Nicaragua

The primary task of Panel III was to identify a list of information needs for each vital issue defined by Panel II. The panelists adopted an extensive list of information needed to address each vital issue and to make appropriate decision regarding the development of an advanced information system.

Vital Issues Participants

1. Panel I
2. Panel II
3. Panel III

Advanced Computational Capabilities... the ‘Silicon’ Computer

Where available, this is a suite of computer modeling tools that can be used to provide valuable analytical results germane to the topic.

Access to World-Class Experts... the ‘Protein’ Computer

The Protein Computer component of the Decision Support System will provide a distributed collaborative environment for decision makers, analysts, consultants, and interested stakeholders to share information, exchange data, and analyze the model results real time. Opportunities will include videoconferencing, simultaneous viewing of ‘silicon’ computer model results, white board teleconferencing of data and ideas, file transfer, as well as chat rooms.

For more information contact Dr. Dennis Engi, (505) 845-8284.

For best viewing of this web site, do NOT override the documents colors. For best viewing of this web site, do NOT override the documents colors. For best viewing of this web site, do NOT override the documents colors. For best viewing of this web site, do NOT override the documents colors. For best viewing of this web site, do NOT override the documents colors.