Progress and challenges in defining the Gulf of Fonseca as a Regional Public Good and its impact on economic development and reduction of inequalities in the micro-region

Abstract

Regional Public Goods (RPG) are natural, or artificial, tangible, or non-tangible assets (or goods) shared between two or more countries, which offer non-exclusive common benefits. There are natural resources in the Central American region, whose definition can be in that of an RPG, such as the Trifinio micro-region shared by Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and the Gulf of Fonseca shared by El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. There are challenges to overcome to classify these goods in that category. The development model of the three countries does not have as a strength or priority to meet the needs of the population that lives in coastal areas, this has caused a lag in terms of growth and economic development in the coastal territories of the Gulf. On the other hand, the current legal status of management of sovereignty over its waters makes it impossible to establish joint agreements to promote investments, jobs and consequently improve the quality of life of its population. It is necessary to create a trinational governance scheme that promotes the shared management of the natural resources of the Gulf, under the approach of a RPG which constitutes an administrative tool that helps to strengthen political, economic, social integration. and culture of its riverside municipalities.