Project in Central America

In order to lay the foundation of socio-economic development in the area, the Project was designed to support the countries in the region through enabling their Services to offer reliable and updated hydrological and climatological data to various user sectors, e.g. agriculture, communications, industry, transportation and fishing.

The main objective was to strengthen the basic weather-forecasting services, as well as hydrological networks in each country. The implementation of a new telecommunication system was considered the most important goal at regional level. The Project included economic and technical support as well as training of personnel.

The Project began in 1991, financially supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland within its development cooperation programme. It was implemented by the Regional Committee of Hydrological Resources (CRRH), whose headquarters are situated in Costa Rica. The project was executed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of  Belize, Costa Rica, EI Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, with the collaboration of  the Finnish Meteorological Institute  (FMI) and the World Meteorological Organisation  (WMO).

The total budget of the Project 1991 -1995 amounted to USD 10.5 million, of which the counterpart budgets of the countries were a total of USD 1.2 million and the rest was financed out of Finnish development cooperation funds. The implementation period was prolonged by two years up to the end of 1997.
CRRH had the responsibility of ensuring the development of the project within its proposed scope. The Committee’s role as a coordinator was of great significance, since it facilitated constant communication with each country as well as monitoring that the objectives were fulfilled or reoriented according to the needs outlined.