The Birth of a Watershed Alliance in the San Pedro Basin of the U.S.- Mexico Border Region [abstract]

2 pages

The Birth of a Watershed Alliance in the San Pedro Basin of the U.S.- Mexico Border Region [abstract]

2 pages

Avaliando o papel da aprendizagem socioecológica em governança participativa: construindo resiliência em seis comitês de bacias hidrográficas brasileiras

Brazil has embedded the socio-ecological learning process in the participatory management of river basin councils through its “sister laws” on water and the environment. GTHIDRO or, Grupo Transdisciplinar de Pesquisas em Governança da Água e do Território/Tecnologias Sociais para a Gestão da Água (TSGA), a transdisciplinary group of researchers at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, took these laws and developed new interpretations of socio-ecological learning. They incorporated an ethical component and a dynamic and complex program of participatory “cycles of learning” that brought committees and communities to a common understanding of socio-ecological processes, laws, and potential for collective action. Using resilience theory as a framework for understanding how to sustain and enhance adaptive capacity (Folke et al., 2002), this paper analyzes the processes of socio-ecological learning, including focus groups, physical dynamics that blend the conceptual with the physical, visioning, socio-ecological mapping, project planning and community celebrations through interviews, meeting notes, and written documents of the six case studies. The potential for socio-ecological learning as a tool for building the capacity of basin committees (Turvo, Ermo, Nova Veneza, Orleans e Braço do Norte in the southern part of the state, Urubici in the mountainous region, and Concordia in the middle eastern part) to plan and implement projects is substantiated as an important tool for building the resilience of the combined systems. The case studies indicate that their greatest achievement is the Strategic Planning Model for Sustainable Development, entitled PEDS, which diagrams how to improve the management core group’s capacity to plan and implement projects of their own design, using strategies they have learned and networks they have established in their watershed and state. While the potential for conflict over water and energy between the various economic sectors is strong in Brazil and elsewhere, with the GTHIDRO model the potential for collaboration on resource issues becomes even stronger. Observação dos Editores: O artigo foi publicado online em 16 de julho de 2014. Em 30 de julho de 2014, o arquivo foi substituído para inclusão de nomes de coautores.O Brasil tem incorporado o processo de aprendizagem socioecológica na gestão participativa dos conselhos de bacias hidrográficas por meio de suas “leis-irmãs” sobre a água e o meio ambiente. GTHIDRO, ou Grupo Transdisciplinar de Pesquisas em Governança da Água e do Território/Tecnologias Sociais para a Gestão da Água (TSGA), um grupo transdisciplinar de pesquisadores da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, abordou essas leis e desenvolveu novas interpretações de aprendizagem socioecológica. Eles incorporaram um componente ético e um programa dinâmico e complexo dos “ciclos de aprendizagem” participativos que trouxeram as comissões e as comunidades a um entendimento comum sobre os processos socioecológicos, as leis e o potencial para a ação coletiva. Usando a teoria da resiliência como uma estrutura para a compreensão de como manter e melhorar a capacidade de adaptação (Folke et al., 2002), este artigo analisa os processos de aprendizagem socioecológica, incluindo grupos focais, a dinâmica física que mistura o conceitual com o físico, a visão de futuro, o mapeamento socioecológico, o planejamento de projetos e celebrações comunitárias por meio de entrevistas, notas de reuniões e documentos escritos dos seis estudos de caso. O potencial de aprendizagem socioecológica como ferramenta para a construção da capacidade dos comitês de bacias (Turvo, Ermo, Nova Veneza, Orleans e Braço do Norte, na parte sul do Estado, Urubici, na região montanhosa, e Concórdia, no centro-leste) para planejar e implementar projetos está fundamentado como uma ferramenta importante para a construção da resiliência dos sistemas combinados. Os estudos de caso indicam que a sua maior conquista é o Modelo de Planejamento Estratégico para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, intitulado PEDS, que esquematiza a forma de melhorar a capacidade do núcleo do grupo de gestão para planejar e implementar projetos de sua própria concepção, o uso de estratégias que se aprenderam e as redes que se estabeleceram em sua bacia hidrográfica e em seu Estado. Enquanto o potencial de conflito sobre a água e energia entre os diversos setores econômicos é forte no Brasil e em outros lugares, com o modelo GTHIDRO o potencial para a colaboração em questões de recursos torna-se ainda mais forte. Observação dos Editores: O artigo foi publicado online em 16 de julho de 2014. Em 30 de julho de 2014, o arquivo foi substituído para inclusão de nomes de coautores

The transformation of Mexican copper miners: The dynamics of social agency and mineral policy as economic development tools

Since the copper boom of the late nineteenth century, mining companies have been riding "the copper roller coaster." The well being of miners and their families appears to be tied to international market forces beyond their control. This dissertation uses a case study of miners in Cananea, Sonora, to analyze the relationships between changes in Mexican mineral policy from 1960 to 1998 and Mexico's economic connections with the United States. It employs Immanuel Wallerstein's framework of a world-system linked through hegemonic relationships between a core country, a semiperiphery and periphery (C-SP-P), and looks at the economic and political circumstances under which shifts in this system occur. Within this world-system Kondratieff waves are used to depict periods of stagnation and growth. Policy changes are reflected in economic cycles, and policy also shapes copper extraction, production and marketing. Until the 1970s American multinational corporations under privatization extracted surplus copper from Sonora as a peripheral region. However, once Mexico embarked on a policy of nationalization of the mineral industry (1971-1989), the country intentionally delinked from the U.S. In 1990 the Cananea mine was again privatized as part of Mexico's economic restructuring, with production directed toward international markets. Policy changes are evaluated in terms of Mexican development and the well being of the miners. This analysis is based upon the concept of articulation between capitalist modes of production within the world-system. The concept "articulation" includes confrontations and alliances between classes within each region or country as well as the relations between the C-SP-P. In particular, the miners use political linkages with the national union to defend their interests. However, with economic restructuring and privatization in the 1980s and 1990s, the government-labor alliance is supplanted by government-business alliance, and labor conflict and workforce transformation result. Policy turnovers influence everyday practices in gender relations as families face economic crises. Miners' wives form a political front to support their husbands' struggles with the company and to maintain access to potable water. Furthermore, attitudes toward environmental resource use are caught between maintaining the miners' job source and securing a safe and reliable source of water for the region

Science and Practice of Integrated River Basin Management : Lessons from North and Central American UNESCO-HELP Basins

The Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) program, a cross-cutting component of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP), has as its goal to facilitate dialogue among hydrologists, social and economic scientists, water resource managers, water lawyers, policy experts, and river basin stakeholder communities in setting a research agenda driven by local management and policy issues. HELP seeks to improve the benefits to society by applying the principals of integrated water-resources management to complex, interdisciplinary issues within catchments. This Monograph is the culmination of a workshop held in 2010 in which the managers from the six North American basins (San Pedro, Willamette, Upper Washita, Lake Champlain, Iowa-Cedar, Luquillo) and a Central American basin (Panama Canal), see Figure 1, met to exchange ideas and “lessons learned” in various applications of IWRM within the HELP philosophy. Three major themes were examined: 1. Climate change: Creating watershed resilience 2. Use of social learning in IWRM 3. Knowledge and information management for IWRM Each of these themes is explored in detail and enhanced with case studies of IWRM applications from the participating North and Central American HELP basins