PROYECTO CReA VLIR-UOS

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://repositorio.ucb.edu.bo/handle/20.500.12771/71

Browse

Author: search.filters.author.Van Griensven, Ann

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Navigating ambiguous waters: a relational approach to nested conflicts in the Katari River Basin, Bolivia
    (2025-05) Agramont, Afnan; Villlafuerte Philippsborn, Leonardo D.; Peres-Cajias, Guadalupe; Baltodano Martinez, Analy; Van Griensven, Ann; Craps, Marc; Brugnach, Marcela F.
    The Katari River Basin, the most densely populated basin in Bolivia, discharges into Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake and a crucial water resource in the Andes. Despite its significance, the basin suffers from severe water contamination because of anthropogenic activities. This pollution adversely affects water quality, distribution, and availability, exacerbating the region’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change at high elevations. In response to these challenges, the Bolivian government established a multi-stakeholder platform. However, this platform reveals complex water conflict dynamics linked to ambiguity associated with different ways of knowing, framing, and coping with water pollution issues. This study examines how relational practices are linked to managing ambiguity and addressing nested water conflicts. Relational practices are communication-based practices by which the involved actors shape and develop mutual and shared sense-making relationships. Our findings reveal that current relational practices hinder their ability to collaboratively address ambiguities, leaving underlying water conflicts unresolved. Moreover, they indicate that ambiguity is managed by imposing a singular frame, reinforced by the significant power asymmetries within the multi-stakeholder platform, strengthening the dynamics of water conflicts. We conclude that dealing with ambiguity through high-quality relational practices could facilitate the recognition and resolution of water conflicts, potentially improving clarity, communication, and advancing collaborative problem-solving among stakeholders
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Framing Water Policies: A Transdisciplinary Study of Collaborative Governance; the Katari River Basin (Bolivia)
    (Universidad Católica Boliviana "San Pablo". VLIR-UOS., 2022-11-18) Agramont Akiyama, Afnan; Peres-Cajías, Guadalupe; Villafuerte Philippsborn, Leonardo; Van Cauwenbergh, Nora; Craps, Marc; Van Griensven, Ann
    Collaborative water governance deals with diverse actors under participatory systems of decision making. This form of water governance involves stakeholders with fundamentally different values and premises about water resources, as well as different understandings of the problem and how to approach it. Thus, one of the major challenges of collaborative water governance relies on the diversity of frames carried by stakeholders involved and the shift from hierarchical decision-making to a more collaborative and participative process. The fragmentation of frames can represent an obstacle, impede mutual understanding, and negatively influence decision making and policy outcomes. Based on participative observation, interviews, and document analysis, we explored the drivers behind the framing process in the multi-actor platform of the Katari River Basin, located in Bolivia. The results highlight a participatory process design favoring the fragmentation of frames and a unidirectional decision-making process, where public authority, scientific–technical expertise, and the local community’s knowledge are insulated, and communication among actors is asymmetrical. At the same time, this research reveals the influence of the political context in the framing process.