Agua, poder y tecnología. Megaproyectos hídricos y movilización social en Ecuador

Esta obra, de una manera extraordinaria e inspiradora, nos revela las íntimas conexiones entre el agua, los megaproyectos y las relaciones de poder en la costa ecuatoriana. Con gran capacidad intelectual y precisión investigativa, el autor examina los procesos de diseño e implementación de tres megaobras hídricas. Más allá de quitar la máscara de los juegos de poder burocráticos y neoliberales, la fascinante búsqueda empírica y conceptual nos deja ver las luchas y estrategias sutiles de resistencia social. Las familias marginadas y las comunidades perjudicadas reclaman justicia ambiental y una vida digna. Este magnífico libro es de gran interés para docentes, investigadores y estudiantes de ecología política, geografía crítica, políticas de desarrollo y estudios rurales. RUTGERD BOELENS, profesor titular de Ecología Política del Agua y Gobernanza del Agua, Universidad de Wageningen, Universidad de Ámsterdam y Universidad Central del Ecuador

Inundaciones políticamente construidas. El megaproyecto hídrico Chone en Ecuador

The construction and implementation of the hydraulic mega-project Chone (coastal Ecuador) was legitimized as a means to promote city development but has flooded and dramatically transformed rural territories. A utilitarian discourse regarding the «benefits of the urban majority» justified this project, at the expense of the ostensible «underdeveloped minority» in the countryside. Throughout the implementation of the megadam, peasants were represented as «backward» and «pre-modern», in need of adopting modernist urban imaginaries to fit official notions of progress. Policy-makers presented the risk of flooding as a mere «natural» and «technological» problem, obscuring the power relations that produce the urban-rural territorial transformations. From a political ecology perspective, we contend that the abundance of water is a political construct, instead of just a techno-natural phenomenon. We conclude by arguing that mega-projects are not only means to control water but also constitute mechanisms to order and govern society.<br/

Apresentação do dossiê: territórios, ruralidades e modelos de desenvolvimento

Los textos que componen este Dossier esperan ser una muestra representativa del tipo de investigaciones sobre el mundo rural, los problemas ambientales, de la alimentación y la interculturalidad que están ocurriendo en el Ecuador. En el año 2018 se realizó el primer Seminario Permanente de Investigación sobre territorios, ruralidades, ambiente y alimentación en el Ecuador (SEPI I) donde se presentaron cerca de doscientas ponencias y se debatió un balance de la investigación sobre estos temas en el nuevo siglo. Ese balance, publicado en el año 2020 por la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, sede Ecuador, propone que el eje mayor del interés de los estudios agraristas, ruralistas y ambientalistas ha girado alrededor de los debates sobre los modelos de desarrollo, tanto los dominantes como los alternativosLos textos que componen este Dossier esperan ser una muestra representativa del tipo de investigaciones sobre el mundo rural, los problemas ambientales, de la alimentación y la interculturalidad que están ocurriendo en el Ecuador. En el año 2018 se realizó el primer Seminario Permanente de Investigación sobre territorios, ruralidades, ambiente y alimentación en el Ecuador (SEPI I) donde se presentaron cerca de doscientas ponencias y se debatió un balance de la investigación sobre estos temas en el nuevo siglo. Ese balance, publicado en el año 2020 por la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, sede Ecuador, propone que el eje mayor del interés de los estudios agraristas, ruralistas y ambientalistas ha girado alrededor de los debates sobre los modelos de desarrollo, tanto los dominantes como los alternativo

¿Seguridad hídrica urbano-rural en los fondos de agua? Un análisis desde las relaciones de poder, la participación y la co-creación de conocimientos

En las últimas dos décadas los fondos de agua (FA) han cobrado importancia como mecanismos de conservación del agua y sus fuentes. Éstos promueven una serie de acuerdos entre diversos actores que participan en diálogos sostenidos en contextos de alta desigualdad socioeconómica y política. Así, los FA han logrado conectar a poblaciones peri-urbanas y rurales, habitantes de ecosistemas hídricos estratégicos, con importantes usuarios del agua como ciudades, hidroeléctricas, empresas públicas, privadas y multinacionales, entre otras. Bajo el enfoque de justicia hídrica, este artículo analiza el tipo de participación que tienen los distintos actores involucrados en la co-creación de conocimientos en torno a la seguridad hídrica promovida por distintos FA. El artículo ilustra dos casos de estudio, el primero en Ecuador (Fondo de Manejo de Páramos Tungurahua y Lucha contra la Pobreza (FMPLPT) y el segundo en Colombia (Fondo de Agua de Bogotá). Concluimos que estos FA centran sus esfuerzos en contextos urbanos y poco miran la seguridad hídrica rural

River Commoning and the State: A Cross‐Country Analysis of River Defense Collectives

Grassroots initiatives that aim to defend, protect, or restore rivers and riverine environments have proliferated around the world in the last three decades. Some of the most emblematic initiatives are anti-dam and anti-mining movements that have been framed, by and large, as civil society versus the state movements. In this article, we aim to bring nuance to such framings by analyzing broader and diverse river-commoning initiatives and the state–citizens relations that underlie them. To study these relations we build on notions of communality, grassroots scalar politics, rooted water collectives, and water justice movements, which we use to analyze several collective practices, initiatives, and movements that aim to protect rivers in Thailand, Spain, Ecuador, and Mozambique. The analysis of these cases shows the myriad ways in which river collectives engage with different manifestations of the state at multiple scales. As we show, while some collectives strategically remain unnoticed, others actively seek and create diverse spaces of engagement with like-minded citizen initiatives, supportive non-governmental organizations, and state actors. Through these relations, alliances are made and political space is sought to advance river commoning initiatives. This leads to a variety of context-specific multi-scalar state–citizens relations and river commoning processes in water governance arenas

River commoning and the state: A cross-country analysis of river defense collectives

Grassroots initiatives that aim to defend, protect, or restore rivers and riverine environments have proliferated around the world in the last three decades. Some of the most emblematic initiatives are anti‐dam and anti‐mining movements that have been framed, by and large, as civil society versus the state movements. In this article, we aim to bring nuance to such framings by analyzing broader and diverse river‐commoning initiatives and the state–citizens relations that underlie them. To study these relations we build on notions of communality, grassroots scalar politics, rooted water collectives, and water justice movements, which we use to analyze several collective practices, initiatives, and movements that aim to protect rivers in Thailand, Spain, Ecuador, and Mozambique. The analysis of these cases shows the myriad ways in which river collectives engage with different manifestations of the state at multiple scales. As we show, while some collectives strategically remain unnoticed, others actively seek and create diverse spaces of engagement with like‐minded citizen initiatives, supportive non‐governmental organizations, and state actors. Through these relations, alliances are made and political space is sought to advance river commoning initiatives. This leads to a variety of context‐specific multi‐scalar state–citizens relations and river commoning processes in water governance arenas

Incidencia de los proyectos de Vinculación con la Sociedad de la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana. Vol 2

Con este mismo título, en diciembre de 2021, apareció el primer volumen de este trabajo. La intención fue sistematizar algunos proyectos de vinculación que habían logrado impactos sociales en términos cualitativos y de innovación educativa. En esa oportunidad se presentó una obra con diez capítulos de reflexión, sistematización, análisis y descripción de la trascendental importancia que implica, para la UPS, la vinculación con la sociedad. Ahora, al cumplir la UPS 28 años de vida institucional, presentamos este segundo volumen, que recoge en 14 capítulos el trabajo de 3 docentes, administrativos, estudiantes e investigadores invitados de distintos campos científicos. Es la continuación de la sistematización de los proyectos de vinculación emblemáticos que se han desarrollado en las sedes de Cuenca, Quito y Guayaquil de la universidad. EN cada uno de ellos se podrá encontrar el esfuerzo que la UPS ha desarrollado en estos 28 años, desde su fundación, para conseguir transformaciones sociales. Fiel a su misión y visión institucional, ha desplegado un arduo trabajo en el capo científico, tecnológico y cultural, dándose a conocer como una institución de excelencia académica, producción científica, responsabilidad social y capacidad de incidir en el desarrollo de la sociedad ecuatorian

Hydraulic order and the politics of the governed: The Baba Dam in coastal Ecuador

Mega-dams are commonly designed, constructed, and implemented under governors’ rule and technocrats’ knowledge. Such hydraulic infrastructures are characteristically presented as if based on monolithic technical consensus and unidirectional engineering. However, those who are affected by these water interventions, and eventually governed by the changes brought by them, often dispute the forms of knowledge, norms, morals, and operation and use rules embedded in mega-hydraulic engineers’ designs. Protests may also deeply influence the design and development of the technological artifacts. By using approaches related to the Social Construction of Technology and Partha Chatterjee’s politics of the governed, this article shows (i) how protests against the Baba dam in coastal Ecuador greatly influenced the dam’s designs, protecting communities’ lands from being flooded; and (ii) how, at the same time, techno-political decision-makers deployed hydraulic design as a dividing rule, turning potentially affected communities against each other. We conclude that megadam designs are shaped by the power interplay among governors and governed, with the latter being internally differentiated. By critically analyzing the role of technology development—materializing changing ‘political context and relationships’—we show how contested and adapted dam design may favor some stakeholders while simultaneously affecting others and weakening united dam-resistance movements

The political construction and fixing of water overabundance rural–urban flood-risk politics in coastal Ecuador

Ecuador’s mega-dam project aims to control Chone city’s flooding hazards, but it submerges peasants’ territories–legitimized by ‘modern city/majority benefit’ versus ‘rural backward/sacrifice-able minority’ discourse. Presented as disordered, unruly and needing domestication, peasants must follow urban imaginaries and safeguard modern-urban progress. Policy-makers’ water overabundance discourse presents ‘flood risk’ as a natural and techno-managerial problem, hiding how unequal power balances establish ‘high-value’ (urban/elite) areas as protection zones and rural areas as sacrifice zones. Excessive water is stored in rural areas, neglecting peasants’ livelihoods and governance forms. The paper’s political ecology approach displays the ‘water overabundance’ discourse as a techno-political, naturalized construct that profoundly impacts rural–urban hydro-territoriality.</p

Hydroterritorial Configuration and Confrontation: The Daule-Peripa Multipurpose Hydraulic Scheme in Coastal Ecuador

There is a forceful new impetus toward mega-hydraulic projects in Latin America, which are booming but also highly controversial. They bring benefits to some social groups while many others are negatively affected. Technocratic discourses are dominant in the region; they strategically mobilize institutions, infrastructure, money, and knowledge to present particular hydrosocial territorial imaginaries—such as multipurpose dams—as natural, universal, and politically neutral. Meanwhile, affected local communities commonly envision and practice different discourses, values, and worldviews, based on contextualized notions of well-being and territoriality. Using a political ecology perspective, this article examines how the Daule-Peripa mega-hydraulic scheme—Ecuador’s “hydraulic heart”—has de- and repatterned the territory, producing new hierarchical relations and unequal distribution of socioenvironmental impacts. Though political discourses have changed throughout state-centralist and neoliberal époques, governmental policies and practices have continued and renewed their defense of mega-hydraulism. In turn, affected communities and families, through everyday territorial politics, respond and aim to rearrange the hydrosocial network in order to regain control over water, land, and territorial services