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On November 1, 2024, Satya Maia Patchineelam defended her PhD thesis at Erasmus University Rotterdam, entitled “Voicing the Invisibles. Investigating Impacts of Resettlement on Riverine Women due to the Construction of Belo Monte Hydropower Dam”. The Belo Monte Hydropower dam, constructed in the Xingu River, resettled many riverine families from their homes on the riverbanks to the outskirts of the city of Altamira, Brazil. The lack of transparency and participation reduced the chances of the riverine community to maintain their riverine culture and river-based livelihoods. The research aimed to understand the impact of resettlement on the livelihood of the riverine women and how it has affected their traditions. This research answered the central question: What are the various effects of resettlement and disconnection from the river on the riverine women? The study makes part of the River City Network, sister alliance of Riverhood and River Commons. The latter’s PI Prof. Rutgerd Boelens acted as a committee member. During the research, Satya has joined several Riverhood and River Commons meetings in Wageningen, Manizales, and a  methodology workshop on counter-mapping with CEDLA at the University of Amsterdam. The learnings were applied in the field study’s participatory action-research.

On 25 October, postdoctoral researcher Daniele Tubino de Souza presented the short documentary ‘Rivers in Movement: Following the Voice of the People” at the Dutch Design Week, in Eindhoven. This was part of the Equity Dialogues at DDW, which focused on storytelling as a participatory form of sharing lived experiences. In this edition, the Equity Dialogues sought to amplify the voices of those directly affected by our designs by telling their stories through mini-documentaries. The purpose was to showcase the voices of under-represented groups and highlight the need for their inclusion in the design of solutions to issues that impact our everyday lives. The documentaries and presentations during the session emphasised the value of personal stories informed by other forms of knowledge.

The short documentary produced by the Riverhood and River Commons team, “Rivers in Movement: Following the Voice of the People’, presents the multiple voices with which the river activist researchers of these projects are in dialogue, and reveals the ontologies through which we view rivers and tell us how to live and coexist with them, fight for them, and co-design action research strategies. These voices, set against a large 50 metre long map representing people’s experiences, perspectives, struggles and visions for the future of rivers, inspire us to unite and fight for rivers.

By: Ana María Arbeláez-Trujillo

The defense of rivers in Colombia is as diverse as their geographies, waters, and communities. From grassroots actions to court rulings granting legal rights to rivers, riparian communities employ a range of strategies to protect their rivers. These approaches are shaped by regional histories, socio-cultural contexts, and the impacts of various national and international actors involved in water governance.
Between June 2023 and July 2024, the Thinking with Rivers for Environmental Peacebuilding project (in Spanish: Pensar con los Ríos la Paz Ambiental) supported the co-creation of socio-legal strategies across four river basins in the Colombian Andes: the La Miel River in Caldas, the Sogamoso River in Santander, and the Cauca and Dormilón Rivers in Antioquia. These regions face environmental degradation alongside the dynamics of Colombia’s internal armed conflict, which has persisted since the early 20th century. As a result, resolving these conflicts is closely tied to the peacebuilding aspirations of the riverine communities.

Throughout the eleven months of the project, riverine communities and grassroots movements from these four rivers engaged in collaborative learning experiences with other river movements, academics, lawyers, and like-minded allies.

The project specifically organized four knowledge exchange workshops in each of the participating rivers, with about 50 people involved. Additionally, three macro-basin meetings took place, bringing together representatives from each river on three separate occasions in the cities of Medellín and Manizales. As part of the initiative, public events were held in both cities. These included the participation of four women leaders at the Book and Culture Festival in Medellín as well as the involvement of four grassroots leaders and academics in a roundtable at the international event ‘Ríos en Movimiento’. These spaces gave visibility to their struggles and provided them with opportunities to identify spaces for cooperation.

Photo 1: Roundtable with riverine leaders at the “Moving Rivers” international conference in Manizales. Credit: Johan Sebastian Silva G. (2024)

Photo 2: Final event of the ‘Thinking with Rivers’ initiative in Medellín. Leaders of the four rivers and academics walked along the upstream areas of the Medellín River and the city in a pedagogic exercise to connect with the river on its different phases. Credit: Pensar con los Ríos (2024)

As part of the project’s activities, Carlos Andrés Zapata Cardona visited Wageningen University. He is the president of the Instituto Popular de Capacitación in Colombia and a member of the advisory team for the implementation of the court ruling that declared the Cauca River a subject of rights. In his talk, he shared with an international audience the challenges of implementing river rights decisions in a context of extractivism and armed conflict.

Photos 3 and 4: Presentation entitled “Are rivers subjects or rights or common goods under special protection?” by Carlos Andrés Zapata. Credit: Laura Giraldo-Martínez. (2023)

Furthemore, Riverhood led the organization of a two-day meeting titled “Community Economies with the Rivers: How do we build an agro-diverse biocultural eastern Caldas?” This event, co-organized with the Movimiento Ambiental Campesino del Oriente de Caldas – MACO, brought together peasant men and women, fishermen, bird watchers, cultural and rural tourism promoters, and members of grassroots collectives defending the La Miel river. The goal of this River co-learning activity was to reflect on how these grassroots actors envision the future of their rivers and territories, how they perceive the cultural and natural richness of their land, the current initiatives for territorial defense, and the threats they identify to their well-being. The methodology used to reflect on their perspectives and collective experiences was social cartography. The research team prepared four maps and asked participants to draw on them to answer these key questions.

Photos 5,6,7 and 8: Day one of the meeting – social cartography workshop in Samaná. Credit: Ana María Arbeláez-Trujillo

The drawings and ideas shared by the participants in this workshop served as input for the creation of an artwork that reflects their vision for the future of eastern Caldas as a “Biocultural Agro-Diverse Territory.” This piece was created by local artist Rafael Rodríguez, also known as RaRo Acuarelas.

Photo 9: Oriente de Caldas Biocultural Agrodiverso. Credit: RaRo Acuarelas

On the second day of the meeting, we visited the La Miel River and participated in a river walk for bird-watching with the local group “Falcons de Oriente.” During this walk, we discussed the various bird species native to eastern Caldas and explored how bird-watching tourism could support rural economies. Emphasizing the potential of these grassroots-led initiatives is essential in proposing alternatives to mainstream development models.

Photos 10, 11, 12, and 13: Day 2 of the meeting – River walk and bird watching activity. Credit:Ana María Arbeláez-Trujillo

We concluded the day by swimming in the river, and listening to the diverse life stories and experiences of various people living along the La Miel River basin. This river co-learning activity brought together participants from peasant and fisher communities, bird watchers, cultural and rural tourism promoters, and urban environmental collectives, many of whom were meeting for the first time. As a result, it was an enriching space for exchanging knowledge, learning from new experiences, and exploring alternative proposals for community-based economies in eastern Caldas.

The project Pensar con los Ríos la Paz Ambiental aimed to contribute to the broader goals of the Riverhood and River Commons initiatives, which focus on creating bridges between academia and social movements, fostering cooperation among grassroots collectives, and supporting the New Water Justice Movements defending rivers. The Riverhood and River Commons projects collaborated with this initiative through the participation of doctoral researchers Ana María Arbeláez (La Miel River) and Moritz Tenthoff (Cauca River), in cooperation with Professor Denisse Roca of the University of Antioquia, who is  the principal investigator of the project.

Acknowledgement:

Pensar con los Ríos la Paz Ambiental was co-funded by the Colombo-German Institute for Peace (CAPAZ) and carried out in collaboration with four community collectives, the Pontifical Bolivarian University,  the Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys) of Humboldt University, the Claretiana University Foundation, the NGO Instituto Popular de Capacitación, and the Socio-Legal Clinic of Public Interest at the University of Caldas.

By Maartje Claassens (Master students exchange programme, cohort of 2024-2025)

Do you remember that Susana and Sebastián invited me to join them to Guamote for a workshop? Today we went back to visit the communities and their land. During the workshop, we heard a lot of stories about how the communities organise their water and what problems they face. However, seeing it with your own eyes says even more, and so we returned!

The morning started very Ecuadorian, which means very early, but without any rush. A little later than planned Susana, Sebastián, and I left Riobamba and then again, a little later than planned, the people from Guamote arrived quietly at the village square to take us to their communities. Todo tranquilo! We first visited a páramo whose land belonged to one of the four communities we would visit today. What an incredible landscape! We drove along dirt roads, which were barely roads, to where their water comes from. A páramo actually works like sponge: capturing and holding water and then slowly releasing it, creating small water streams. As the community is growing, more households need water which especially becomes a problem when it is as dry as it is now. Therefore, the community decided to start taking better care of their water sources (the páramo). This means that native plant species were sowed and that cattle is not allowed in these areas anymore. As a result, the páramo here is now in much better condition, and they also hope to start developing community-based tourism in the area in the future, to generate some extra income.

Sebastián also took a sample at each water source to measure the water quality. It is so special how clean the water is here, because it is naturally filtered by the páramo and is not contaminated with poo from cattle or pesticides. We continued our way to two communities further down the road, which were completely different again. Their land did not belong to the páramo, as they were located a bit lower in the mountains and used the water from the páramo which reaches them through the retention basins and water pipes. The water is mainly used in the household and for drinking, as there are no irrigation systems in this region yet.

On our way to the last community, we were briefly held up by a pile of sand dumped just in front of a house. The women were working hard to shovel the road clear for us. But as Sebastián said, ‘I think it is time to get involved in the minga!’ In these areas, reciprocity is the basis of community and can be understood as ‘you help me, I help you’. To receive water or to be a comunero, you have to be involved and work. So, time to roll up our own sleeves! In the photo you can see the proof of my first contribution to the minga. How reciprocity takes form in Andean communities is also an important part of my thesis, and how could you learn more than becoming part of it yourself right?

Arriving at the final páramo, we once again enjoyed the beautiful scenery and listened to the stories of the communities. What an interesting day this was, and what differences there are here in short distances! People live quite a simple life here, as it revolves around the land, livestock, and community. There is no internet, only dirt roads, and barely any cars, which makes the connection with the rest of the world difficult. However, a simple life is not an easy life, because the people work incredibly hard and with the drought of recent times, it remains to be seen whether their harvests will succeed.

Speaking about drought – it has not been raining for a while now in Ecuador, which is quite a problem in a country that mainly depends on hydroelectricity. Last week, electricity was cut off in the entire country for a night. However this week, the government decided to take even stricter measures. In some parts of Riobamba (such as mine), we have no electricity (light, warm water, internet) from 9 am to 2 pm and from 7 pm to midnight the entire week. In other parts of Riobamba, electricity is cut off at exact opposite times. You can imagine how inconvenient this is for people at work, school, and home. Opinions on why these measures are needed differ. Some are convinced that it has a natural cause, as there ha S not rained for a long time. Others blame the government for not investing in hydroelectricity and thermoelectricity plants these last years, which leads to shortages now. Which story do you believe? I just read in the news that the government is experimenting with cloud seeding techniques to make it rain artificially. Curious to see how this will develop, hopefully it will start to rain normally..

The Riverhood and River Commons team expresses its solidarity with all the affected families, communities, and their partner organizations in Valencia and the neighbouring provinces, after the devastating floods, for which we attach this writing by the New Water Culture Foundation. 20241101FNCA-ante-las-inundaciones

Photo header: Chisala with the fishermen in initial focus group discussion

By: Chisala Lupele

When designing research methodologies, we consider different scenarios of our positionality, but in reality, building trust and navigating local dynamics is most complex. This reflection explores how a dabbed “city girl” overcame those challenges, fostering relationships with fishermen in remote Zambian communities by using Visual Research Methods. Through this approach, she not only collected data but also bridged cultural divides, highlighting the importance of trust and flexibility in effective research design.

The story unfolds on the white Kalahari sands, beneath which lie rich minerals, with the meandering Kwando River flowing above. Originating in Angola, the Kwando winds along Zambia’s border, through Namibia, and into the Linyanti Swamps near Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Despite its pristine nature, unsustainable fishing practices threaten its fish populations with declining targeted fish species.

To address this, a study engaged fishermen using semi-structured interviews and focus groups to understand their fishing practice by exploring their fishing history, methods, and relations among themselves and others. The researcher anticipated challenges due to her positionality—being young, female, and educated—but also encountered unexpected cultural dynamics. Early discussions with the fishermen in the data collection process revealed low trust, requiring flexibility to avoid scripted responses and build genuine trust and engagement.

Reflecting on her experiential knowledge of developing and using communication materials to aid informal learning in conservation awareness raising campaigns, the researcher used Photo Elicitation in form of Gallery Walk to overcome the cultural dynamics observed and gain trust among the fishermen. Photo Elicitation is a form of Visual Research Methods which uses photographs in interviews to stimulate deeper responses, allowing participants to express themselves beyond words, especially in informal settings. This method encourages emotional and experiential insights that traditional interviews might miss, as participants connect images to their personal knowledge, experiences, or the context in which they view them. This method coupled with Gallery walk technique which involves research participants walk around and discuss what is on display in a room; in this case being fish species and fishing methods and gear common to Zambian waters. Use of Visual Research Methods like Photo Elicitation have been sparsely used in natural resource governance studies.

The process

After using found images of fish species and fishing methods and gears used common to Zambian waters, they were displayed on the wall of the meeting room. As the fishermen began to flock into the room, they were encouraged to engage with the material on the wall while they waited for the other fishermen to come through. Soon, the room was filled with chuckles and laughter as they called one another towards what the researcher found was a lucrative fish species they often caught for sale.

Fish species and gears stack on the wall with fishermen observing before the meeting.

The session was called to motion and the researcher introduced the activity to be done for the morning while emphasising how they were experts of fish and fishing and that they were all there to learn from each other including the researcher. Soon rotation in the room began as discussion on each species and method began. Historical accounts of their experience catching certain fish species were shared, debate on presence of the fish species and admission to using illegal and unsustainable fishing practices were shared. Half way through the gallery walk, the fishermen at their own accord began to cluster the fish species according to their families from their experiential knowledge while fishing on the river. This was beautiful to watch as the researcher reflected back to the initial focus group discussion where scripted answers were given as feedback as opposed to this discussion a visual research method was used and the fishermen were free and engaged openly with the researcher.

Fishermen grouping the images during the gallery walk discussion.

The following day, the fishermen decided to bring some of the fish and fishing methods and gear talked about the previous day to show the researcher at their own accord.  When asked why they brought them and an elderly fisherman responded, “because you are a city girl, you haven’t seen this small fish before,” he said. After that, laughter ensued because yes, I was a city girl and I had never seen the fish before. For me this type of banter indicated how trust between myself and them was developing against all cultural dynamics existing between us.

Fish brought to the next meeting.

About the authour: Chisala Lupele is a PhD researcher in the River Commons Project. She is interested in multi-level governance, learning and inclusivity different actors in policy development. Her PhD study focuses on fishery practice, governance and learning at community, national and international level on the Kwando River in Southern Africa.

From 27 to 30 August 2024, the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2024 was held in London under the theme ‘Mapping’. The conference explored ‘mapping in all its forms, in a world saturated with maps, from historical cartography to the newest technologies and practices of map-making’. Post-doctoral researcher Daniele Tubino presented a paper entitled ‘Engaging with onto-epistemological river struggles through counter-mapping’.The paper was led by Edward Huijbens and co-authored by Daniele, Sarita Bhagat, Bibiana Duarte Abadia, Juliana Forigua-Sandoval, Rutgerd Boelens, Jennifer C. Veilleux, and Leila Harris.

Daniele’s presentation looked at how academics and river grassroots movements used counter-mapping to work together on three case studies from Colombia, Ecuador and India and how mapping was used to support river struggles in these cases. Built on the concept of ‘riverhood’ this paper explores counter-mapping as an engaged activist research approach coming to terms with the state of being a river. Daniele discussed the counter-mapping in connection with rivers as hydrocommons and reflected through four interrelated ontologies —“river-as-ecosociety”, “river-as-territory”, “river-as-subject” and “river-as-movement” — that stand for different ways of understanding and engaging with rivers in different contexts, cultures and time scales. The presentation concluded by highlighting the transformative changes in the creation and maintenance of hydrocommons that can potentially be achieved through counter-mapping activities and their coalitions in the presented cases. Counter-mapping practices in these (and other cases related to Riverhood and River Commons) have the potential to foster multi-actor and multi-scalar dialogues that negotiate and articulate actionable proposals for river regeneration and socio-environmental justice. Such practices hold the possibility of redressing power structures, contributing to the reversal of widespread socio-environmental degradation of rivers, and countering developments of neoliberal enclosure.

On 5 July 2024, the Riverhood and River Commons teams organised an international seminar on “Water Commoning Struggles” following the PhD defence of Moritz Hofstetter. Moritz defended his thesis, entitled “Community, Markets, and Conviviality: A Political Ecology of Rural Water Supply”, in the morning, and the seminar took place in the afternoon.

The seminar included presentations from members of the jury committee Emilie Dupuits (University San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador) and Mary Galvin (Water Integrity Network, Berlin, and University of Johannesburg, South Africa); and from researchers from Wageningen University Jerry van de Berge, Jaime Hoogesteger, and Carlota Houart.

They talked about the commons, struggles for commoning, the role of youth in commoning processes, commons from a multispecies justice perspective, moving from Ecuador to South Africa to the EU and to more conceptual and political debates.

International Seminar on Water Commoning Struggles at Wageningen University, 5 July 2024

On the 24 April I successfully defended my PhD dissertation at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB). The dissertation explored the multi-scalar and multi-dimensional politics and contradictions of territorial transformations induced by Inter-Basin Water Transfers (IBWTs), particularly the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct in Spain. Taking the format of a scalar journey, the dissertation explores IBWT impacts worldwide, before descending into the crafting of different forms of hegemonic and counterhegemonic territories in the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct, the fabrication of irrigator subjects co-creating these territories, and the ethical implications of water-based more-than-human relationships and co-becoming from my own perspective as subject, inhabitant, and researcher. The chapters making up the dissertation are published as stand alone scientific articles or book chapters, aside from one chapter currently in peer review. I was accompanied and supported at the defence committee by my co-supervisors Sergio Villamayor Tomás (ICTA-UAB) and Rutgerd Boelens (Wageningen University), family and friends, as well as online by colleagues and mentors from the networks I am part of, the WEGO-ITN project and the Riverhood project. The defence committee consisted of Carles Sanchis Ibor from the Universitat Politècnica de València, David Saurí from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Leila Harris from the University of British Columbia, and I am thankful to them for their questions and patience for what was a very animated and enjoyable session.

On 6 March 2024, PhD Carlota Houart had the opportunity to present the River Commons project at the ‘Wageningen Impact for Sustainable Futures’ event, which brought together several outstanding projects at Wageningen University that have been awarded INREF grants. These projects stand out for their transdisciplinary approaches, integrating academia and society in innovative ways and multiple areas of knowledge. In her speech, Carlota highlighted how the River Commons project has been building transdisciplinary bridges between academia and social movements, environmental organisations, artists, and activist groups to work together to defend rivers. She also highlighted some of the key strengths of the project, such as the use of alternative and creative methodologies to co-create actionable knowledge with grassroots initiatives around rivers for social and environmental impact.

Carlota Houart presenting the River Commons project

Also on 8 March, post-doc Daniele Tubino represented the Travelling Rivers initiative (part of the Riverhood and River Commons projects) at the WUR Research Award in the Transdisciplinary Research of the Year category. In her pitch, Daniele highlighted how the Travelling Rivers initiative follows a radical transdisciplinary path by building entirely on the ideas and knowledge of riverine communities. Travelling Rivers makes ideas about rivers travel and does so through counter-maps created with the help of local artists, that represent alternative visions that can heal our rivers. As she highlighted, these maps integrate diverse knowledge, connect movements around the world, and amplify their power by enabling new transnational networks of solidarity that can influence the creation of new policies for rivers.

Daniele Tubino representing the Travelling Rivers transdisciplinary initiative

The “Ríos en Movimiento” International Conference that took place in Manizales, Colombia, from 12 to 15 March 2024, bringing together academics and river activists from all over the world, was widely publicised by the Colombian media, check out the article entitled “Los ríos sirvieron de afluente para su defensa y cuidado en Manizales”, published by the newspaper “La Patria”.

“Ríos en movimiento convocó a organizaciones, universidades y grupos de investigación que trabajan alrededor del agua, de su cuidado, de verla como ríos comunes, en movimiento e, inclusive, como movimiento político y como movimiento vivo.

En total participaron representantes de 12 países, incluido Colombia, provenientes de América, Europa y África. Ellos realizaron tres salidas de campo a la quebrada Olivares, al río Chinchiná y a la cuenca Taguambi para compartir experiencias y analizar los procesos realizados en esos sectores.”

Check out the full article here!

The “Diary of Travelling Rivers” has won the international Impact Docs Award. The Impact Docs Awards are part of the prestigious Global Film Awards family and are an international awards competition designed specifically for documentary filmmakers. Its focus is to recognise and promote documentaries that address pressing global issues and engage audiences through compelling storytelling.

Check out this job offer!

Eucor – The European Campus is a trinational consortium of five universities in the Upper Rhine region, which is a border area between Germany, France, and Switzerland. Its purpose is to build a scientific space without walls or borders and with international influence (www.eucor-uni-org). In this rich academic environment, an interdisciplinary doctoral network in the field of river landscape management is currently being established. We are looking for a coordinator for this project.

Main activities:
The coordinator will support the steering committee in:
• Strengthening interdisciplinary methods and solutions for the transfer of science to the political sphere;
• Designing, organizing, and documenting cross-border workshops in cooperation with local partners;
• Coordinating the drafting of a proposal for a European doctoral network.

Associated activities:
• Supporting activities aimed at strengthening international scientific collaborations on sustainable development of hydrosystems within the framework of the EUCOR Chair “Water and Sustainability”.

Fixed-term contract: 14 months

Start: as soon as possible
Statut: Contractual Agent

Corps: Ingénieur d’études (Research Engineer)
Contact(s) for information about the position: Prof.Dr.Karl Matthias Wantzen – kmwantzen@unistra.fr

For more info, please click here.