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The Cisterns Program aims to mitigate drought impacts by strengthening the adaptive capacity of vulnerable inhabitants in Brazilian semiarid (BSA) regions. Cisterns promote farmers’ ability to adapt to climatic stresses in the long run. This article discusses the impacts of the Rainwater Harvesting Program (RHP) on the livelihoods of women in BSA regions. The policy implementation is assessed in terms of capacity building, social mobilization, and the construction of infrastructure that guarantees rainwater harvesting for human consumption and productive uses. Based on semistructured interviews in case studies in Paraíba, Pernambuco and Ceará States, this article discusses how the gender perspective can improve adaptive capacity. The results from the case studies indicate important changes in female autonomy and increased independence related to water access, resulting in extra time for women to dedicate to other activities, including education. Moreover, the availability of water for production strengthened productive capacity, leading to greater food security and well-being. Last, a sense of economic independence related to income generation from improved production capacity was also reported.

Buscamos contribuir con un quehacer académico comprometido que problematice aquellos quehaceres predominantes de impronta neoliberal. Desde una perspectiva que releva fenómenos emergentes, abordamos el caso del proyecto “Abuelo Barbaverde”. Este se desarrolló entre 2016 y 2020. Su objetivo fue aportar al resguardo de la zona costera valdiviana, sur de Chile. Aunque comenzó como un programa radial, se “expandió” a otros formatos, se asentó en diversos espacios y alcanzó variadas audiencias. Ello fue posible gracias a la construcción de un dispositivo metodológico denominado “etnografía transmedia”. Nuestros argumentos son: i) el compromiso se debe asociar a la creatividad, entendida como una labor colectiva de improvisación en torno a la particularidad de los territorios y ii) su corolario puede resultar paradójico: para materializarlo, los actores académicos deben “dejar de serlo” y hacer emerger en su lugar la figura del “pasador” y su capacidad de construir relaciones y vincular actores y dominios de la realidad.

What role can non-diplomats play in managing and altering power relations in transboundary river basins? We answer this by investigating the lobbying eff orts of indigenous peoples to stop the construction of the planned Orokawe (Baynes) dam on the Kunene River. The Kunene River forms part of the border between Angola and Namibia with several concluded treaties in place. These treaties set the context of bilateral state diplomacy concerning the allocation and management of a transboundary water resource. The theoretical foundation of our investigation are ideational power conceptualizations and practice theory. We discuss the employment of ideational power in transboundary rivers with numerous practices, such as lobbying and transnational network development. This article argues that actors consciously practice power during transboundary water diplomacy.

Hydropower developments not only have far reaching consequences like ecological degradation and the disappearance of livelihood resources. They also spur micropolitical processes of territorial and productive re-ordering within and between communities. This article analyses the response mechanisms of the inhabitants of a community located in the reservoir of a hydroelectric project in Mexico, facing the construction of a hydroelectric dam and the related arrival of new actors involved in illicit activities. In doing so, it examines the strategies for protecting their territory and livelihoods, and minimising risks at the same time at three levels: intensification, intentional transgression of rules and regulations, and the objection of the imposed system. The article concludes that the response mechanisms are informed by, and produce micropolitics of illegality and violence as well as new codes of governance. Keywords: Mexico, hydropower, resistance, violence, narco-environments.

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Cuando uno sube desde la parroquia de Zumbahua hasta las faldas del volcán Quilotoa, en la provincia de Cotopaxi, Ecuador, es posible observar que los cultivos de papa (Solanum tuberosum), haba (Vicia faba), oca (Oxalis tuberosa), melloco (Ullucus tuberosus) y cebada se ubican en tierras buenas que están entre 2500 y 2800 msnm. Entre 2800 y 3800 metros, el lupino (Lupinous mutabilis Sweet), una leguminosa comestible, es plantada generalmente en los terrenos más altos de los agricultores indígenas y muchas veces intercalada con los pajonales. Hasta finales de la década de 1980, el lupino fue objeto de prejuicio racial y social. Había sido domesticado en algún momento antes de la llegada de los incas y ciertamente hay evidencia de su uso en Ecuador durante el periodo colonial temprano y a lo largo de los tres siglos de la dominación española en la región andina (Martínez-Flores, 2015). Debido a su origen indígena andino y su raro uso en las áreas urbanas, estaba visto por los consumidores de la clase media urbana como una comida que solo era apropiada para indígenas y pobres. De alguna manera, esta percepción ha cambiado en la actualidad, porque ha sido producido comercialmente, promovido y adaptado culturalmente por consumidores interesados en salud y ecología. De tal manera, que el lupino se convirtió en una especialidad gastronómica y una comida saludable.

This presentation introduces a special issue that analyzes the new territorial configurations taking shape in the Andean region under the developmentalist governments of the 21st century. The new territorial projects seek to increase the extraction of resources, the transference of crucial products on local level, and economic development. This remodeling transforms the techno-natural, cultural and political orders and creates new ‘capitalisms’ that facilitate knowledge production on, exploitation of, and control over local societies. This special issue analyzes the practical and political expressions of these new forms of social and ecological (re)territorialization.

Introduction. Agricultural practices based on good management of ecosystems are promoted as a good adaptation strategy for the productive activities of coffee smallholder farmers in the Central American region. The dissemination of information on innovations, techniques, instruments, etc. between organizations and producers is key to expand and consolidate the use of these practices. Objective. The objective of this study was to identify the structure of information-dissemination governance that can help expand and consolidate the use of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) practices in agriculture. Materials and methods. Three productive landscapes distributed in three countries(Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica) were analysed, characterized by predominantly small-scale coffee growing farmers. For each of these landscapes, the actors that exchange information between the national scale and the levelof the producers were identified. Interviews were conducted to characterize the information flows and their possible relevance to promote EbA in the productive systems of coffee producers. Results. It was identified both key actors and gaps in the network of organizations that inhibit the transmission of information between scales and sectors. In Costa Rica, the capacity for intermediation of information across sectors and scales is spread between State entities andcompetitive producer organizations. In Honduras, intermediation capacities are distributed among some civil society organizations that work at local levels closely with producers and governmental organizations that work at the nationallevel. In Guatemala, the intermediation capacities are mainly distributed among governmental, civil society and private organizations, mainly at the national level. Conclusion.The analysis of networks in these coffee landscapes suggeststhat although all three countries have a similar institutionalization of the coffee sector, in two the dissemination of information to promote EbA would benefit at intermediate and local scales to promote learning among producers.

What role can non-diplomats play in managing and altering power relations in transboundary river basins? We answer this by investigating the lobbying eff orts of indigenous peoples to stop the construction of the planned Orokawe (Baynes) dam on the Kunene River. The Kunene River forms part of the border between Angola and Namibia with several concluded treaties in place. These treaties set the context of bilateral state diplomacy concerning the allocation and management of a transboundary water resource. The theoretical foundation of our investigation are ideational power conceptualizations and practice theory. We discuss the employment of ideational power in transboundary rivers with numerous practices, such as lobbying and transnational network development. This article argues that actors consciously practice power during transboundary water diplomacy.

La sostenibilidad socio-económica de la cadena productiva de cacao es muy relevante en las agendas público-privadas del Ecuador. La presente investigación se centra en proponer estrategias inter-organizacionales mediante la identificación de actores y actividades claves, un análisis de desempeño socio-económico y la caracterización de mecanismos que gobiernan la dinámica de la cadena. Para su efecto, en tres etapas, se encuestaron jefes de pequeñas fincas productoras localizadas en la provincia de Cotopaxi, cantón La Maná. El mayor desafío de esta red productiva se centra en los sistemas de producción de tipo convencional y la comercialización informal de la almendra. Se evidenció a través de datos de entidades públicas la existencia de amenazas y debilidades en su desempeño. Los factores analizados fueron de carácter productivo y socio-económico. Se aplicó el análisis de componentes principales y correlación para procesar la información de campo. Se determinó que la sostenibilidad económica se ve fuertemente afectada por aspectos agronómicos y sociales. Asimismo, se concluyó que la comercialización y las actividades de valor agregado son aspectos que deben ser abordados con una visión de colaboración inter-organizacional.

La provincia de Cotopaxi es una de las principales zonas productoras de papa del Ecuador.Desafortunadamente, la productividad es 48% más baja que la productividad nacional(Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, 2019). Una de las principales razones de esta bajaproductividad es la calidad de la semilla. Diversas intervenciones se han realizado paraincrementar el uso de semilla de calidad y mejorar las prácticas de manejo, sin embargo,el impacto de estas ha sido limitado debido al insuficiente conocimiento de los sistemasde semilla. El objetivo de esta investigación fue entender la articulación de diferentesactores, la biodiversidad, fuentes de semilla y los diferentes mecanismos en la renovaciónparcial de los lotes de semilla en la provincia de Cotopaxi.

La provincia de Cotopaxi es una de las principales zonas productoras de papa del Ecuador.Desafortunadamente, la productividad es 48% más baja que la productividad nacional(Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, 2019). Una de las principales razones de esta bajaproductividad es la calidad de la semilla. Diversas intervenciones se han realizado paraincrementar el uso de semilla de calidad y mejorar las prácticas de manejo, sin embargo,el impacto de estas ha sido limitado debido al insuficiente conocimiento de los sistemasde semilla. El objetivo de esta investigación fue entender la articulación de diferentesactores, la biodiversidad, fuentes de semilla y los diferentes mecanismos en la renovaciónparcial de los lotes de semilla en la provincia de Cotopaxi.

Hydropower developments not only have far reaching consequences like ecological degradation and the disappearance of livelihood resources. They also spur micropolitical processes of territorial and productive re-ordering within and between communities. This article analyses the response mechanisms of the inhabitants of a community located in the reservoir of a hydroelectric project in Mexico, facing the construction of a hydroelectric dam and the related arrival of new actors involved in illicit activities. In doing so, it examines the strategies for protecting their territory and livelihoods, and minimising risks at the same time at three levels: intensification, intentional transgression of rules and regulations, and the objection of the imposed system. The article concludes that the response mechanisms are informed by, and produce micropolitics of illegality and violence as well as new codes of governance. Keywords: Mexico, hydropower, resistance, violence, narco-environments.

Processes of technological change foster the silent penetration of private enterprise in collective irrigation water management in numerous areas of Spain, and in other Mediterranean countries. This paper discusses this phenomenon through a case study of the community of Senyera (València), tracking the privatization and subsequent contestation and re-takeover of water management by irrigation system users. The article shows how privatization removes users’ autonomy and increases irrigation costs in a context of little transparency. The case also highlights users’ capacity to re-value and re-sig-nify their past collective action, turning it into new, creative forms of self-governance.

Groundwater supports the livelihood of millions of people living in rural and urban areas around the world. Based on the theory of access, in this article we present how the development of the use of groundwater has contributed to human well-being in various parts of the world; and how its intensive use is causing health and access to water problems in vulnerable populations due to overexploitation of aquifers. We show the difficulties faced by state regulation schemes to control the use of groundwater and present the modest achievements of other governance approaches aimed at solving existing problems with groundwater. In the same way, we show the current processes of accumulation and dispossession of water that occur as a result of anarchy in water management. To study these processes, a framework of analysis is proposed based on the study of hydrosocial territories, the political economy of groundwater and the control spheres that define access to it. This analysis highlights the challenges presented by devising policies and modes of governance that contribute to the social and environmental sustainability of groundwater.

In this article, we analyze the water knowledge struggles and challenges that the Rio Grande sub-basin’s social movement has faced when encountering the different modernistic projects that seek to transfer rural water to Malaga city. The first relates to a large dam construction, the second to the modernization of traditional irrigation systems. We conclude that the movement’s challenges are to unpack the truth regimes that support these hydraulic-modernistic projects, to claim for collective water use and control, and to engage in a bottom-up «commoning» process for defending the river’s socio-environmental values, cultural-economic importance, and epistemological meaning and existence.

Commercial production of flowers, accumulation of water, and social struggles for equitable distribution and a healthier environment have an intimate relationship. Ecuador is the third world exporter of roses. Cayambe-Tabacundo is the main production region and counts with major water conflicts. Large floriculturists accumulate water, leaving the rest for subsistence agriculture and livestock in indigenous communities. Floriculture uses private environmental and fair-trade certification, but the standards are permissive. This article analyzes the power relations that steer flower certification practices. It concludes that only after pressure from government agencies, NGOs and user associations, floriculture began to meet the standards.

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.

During the last decades, different perspectives have emerged to respond to the challenges related to water management. This paper presents an introduction to the main theoretical approaches that currently are deployed to study water management and governance: new institutionalism, common-pool resources theory, and the empowerment perspective that is related to political ecology. The description of these approaches aims at contextualizing the different contributions presented in this special issue, several of which focus on the analysis of hydrosocial territories. Their main results are briefly summarized.

This article analyses how conflicts over land and water resources arose in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico, when a Canadian mining company started an open pit mine in this municipality. We examine different positions in the conflict between the gold mine developer and local inhabitants, and how ambivalent national regulations and governmental bodies allowed a foreign company to operatewithout the required permits. For scrutinizing the conflict we use the Echelon of Rights Analysis (ERA) framework: four layers of dispute are being distinguished, involving conflicts over: resources; contents of rules and regulations; decision-making power; and discourses. We discuss how the foreign company‘s self-representation discourse as a socially responsible corporation contrasts with the environmental, political and social injustices it inflicts upon the local inhabitants, exacerbated by national policies and international trade agreements. Finally we argue that multi-actor, multi-scale alliances may offer opportunities to foster environmental and social justice solutions.