The Upper Madera Community of Practice and Learning (CoP-L) is made up of partners from academia, non-governmental organizations, grassroots groups, and community members and leaders in both Bolivia and Brazil. Our objectives are to facilitate interaction between this diverse set of actors through workshops, online dialogue, and mutual participation in virtual events such as webinars organized by the members of the Community of Practice.
We aim to facilitate discussion specifically related to tools and strategies for governance related to infrastructure, protected areas, and indigenous lands. The Upper Madera CoP-L has a particular focus on existing and planned hydropower development due to its relevance in this focal mosaic.
Focal Mosaic Description
The Madera river, which flows through Bolivia and Brazil, is an important sub basin of the Amazon due to its size and species richness. In Bolivia, the waters of its main tributaries (Madre de Dios, Beni, Mamoré and Iténez) traverse Bolivia’s lowland rainforests to join in the north of Bolivia. The Madera River is born at the confluence of the Mamoré and Beni Rivers in Bolivia.
The Brazilian government has already constructed two large dams on the Madera River: the Jirau dam, which is about 80 km from the border with Bolivia, and the Santo Antonio dam, which is further downstream about 7 km from the state capital of Porto Velho. Bolivia has planned the construction of the Cachuela Esperanza dam on the upper Madera River near the floodplains; and both countries plan the construction of the binational dam Ribeirão.
Both the Brazilian and Bolivian sides house indigenous and traditional communities and protected areas that have already been impacted by Santo Antonio and Jirau, or will be impacted by the dams at Cachuela Esperanza and Riberão. The Upper Madera CoP-L provides an opportunity to learn from the experiences with the former and exchange ideas about how to best mitigate impacts regarding the latter.
Ongoing Work
Through workshops, questionnaires and interviews, the GIA team has worked with partner organizations to compile knowledge and information that can support learning and reflection about the dynamics of governance and infrastructure in the Upper Madera focal mosaic.
Timeline
Historical timelines are a way to reflect on the drivers of system change and decision-making processes, helping us to identify on when major policy shifts occurred and what were critical enabling and limiting factors. We present the Upper Madera regional timeline here, indicating the scale at which key events occurred, the roles of different actors in catalyzing system change, what was emphasized by the participant group, apparent gaps in the workshop reflections, key lessons, and potential avenues for further work. The cross-regional synthesis of timelines may be found here.
Participatory Mapping
Participatory mapping is a tool to socially construct a geospatial visualization of infrastructure within a mosaic of protected areas, indigenous territories and other lands. Participants in GIA workshops identified and mapped areas considered to be of high value, areas of perceived threats, and recommended actions. Maps and textual analysis from the Upper Madera mosaic may be found here, while a cross-regional synthesis may be found here (Forthcoming).
Stakeholder and Organizational Analysis
The Upper Madera Community of Practice and Learning brings together a range of actors who collaborate together in multiple ways to address shared challenges. Understanding how collaboration occurs and how different organizations can work together to maximize their collective impact are important areas for analysis and reflection.
In addition, many other stakeholders such as financing, construction, political and economic actors influence governance, infrastructure development, and conservation and development outcomes. It is important to understand who these actors are, their interests, sources of power, and opportunities to influence them.
Learn more about case studies and other analyses related to the Upper Madera CoP-L network and other infrastructure governance stakeholders here (Forthcoming). For a more synthetic perspective on stakeholder analysis here (Forthcoming), and for organizational analysis here (Forthcoming).
Case Study
“Effectiveness of conservation strategies for infrastructure governance” Dr. Jazmin Gonzales Tovar
Our preliminary assessment of conservation strategies identified several promising cases that offer opportunities for analysis and learning. By comparatively analyzing four specific cases—one in each of the four GIA countries (Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru)—this research aims to assess the effectiveness of strategies aimed to promote infrastructure governance. The study takes a close look at contextual/exogenous factors (e.g. politics), power relations, synergies among diverse types of strategies, political mobilization, and coalitions/collaborations. It will deeply explore how certain social-environmentally oriented actors faced specific infrastructure projects in a given Amazonian region; which strategies they utilized to advance their desired goals, how they exerted power to influence decision-making, how they built coalitions and interacted with actors that had different goals or priorities, what were the results, and why (e.g. what was the effect of contextual factors and power relations).
The chosen cases in Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil feature successful stories of indigenous groups who managed to stop or pause infrastructure projects that would have impacted their territories and infringed on their rights. For those three cases, this research aims to produce scientific evidence and communication materials that help these indigenous groups in their lucha.
For Bolivia and Colombia, Jazmin is working in direct collaboration with indigenous leaders from the studied communities. In Colombia, the project will benefit from the involvement of Nidia Becerra, an indigenous Inga and leader from Yunguillo. Yunguillo is an empowered indigenous resguardo known for its constant fight for their rights, successfully stopping two road projects. Nidia will work with the support of two community members, who will be field assistants. For the case of Bolivia, Jazmin is building a collaborative relationship with Valentín Luna Ríos and Domingo Ocampo Huasna, two indigenous leaders from the communities of the Madidi and Pilón Lajas region, in the Madera river basin. These indigenous communities, organized in a mancomunidad, fought to stop the hydroelectric project Chepete – El Bala. These indigenous leaders will participate in the study as co-researchers. They will be the key link with their communities, overseeing the interviews with the traditional and spiritual authorities and leaders, and contribute with writing the analysis and conclusions.
Webinar
GIA had a series of virtual meetings with each GIA mosaic-level Community of Practice and Learning to present results from GIA’s first year of activities and discuss next steps for 2020.
Please, access the Upper Madera CoP-L meeting below.
Planned Activities / Agenda
Learn more about events, activities and additional studies being carried out in the Upper Madera here.
Additional Students Research
Marliz Arteaga Gomez Title: Multi-Level Governance in a Complex Social-Ecological System: The case of the
Hydroelectric Dam Complex in the Madera Basin (Bolivia and Brazil)
Marliz is looking at multilevel governance of hydroelectric dams and their impacts on the livelihoods of communities living in the upper Madera River basin, including a comparison of policy frameworks for licensing of dams in Bolivia and Brazil. She is taking a political ecology approach, using discourse analysis with an emphasis on power, to understand the role of local social organizations and mobilization, comparing communities in Beni and Pando, Bolivia and Rondônia, Brazil with differing levels of social capital based on prior history of mobilization, as well as looking at livelihoods and gender. Marliz has done archival work with governmental documents, key informant interviews with NGOs, and focus groups with communities.
Life-changing impacts on families of the Cachuela Mamore community after the construction of the Jirau and Santo Antonio hydroelectric plants. Access the booklethere.
The Committee for the Defense of Amazonian Life in the Madeira River Basin. Access the booklethere.
Illustrated Fish Guide of the Puerto Consuelo II Community, Pando, Bolivia. Accesshere.
Governance Workshop Facilitation Guide for Amazonian Communities. Accesshere.
Socioeconomic Impacts of Hydroelectric Plants on Fishing in Three Bolivian communities: Cachuela Esperanza, Villa Bella and Puerto Consuelo I. Accesshere.
Characterization of Fishing in Cachuela Esperanza, Beni, Bolivia. Accesshere.
Protocolo de Consulta Previa, Libre, Bien Informada y de Buena Fe de Cachuela Esperanza y Puerto Consuelo II. Accesshere.
Report of the Participatory Workshop “Carretón del Conocimiento I” in Cachuela Esperanza, Beni, Bolivia. Access here.
Investigación Transdisciplinaria Participativa sobre Gobernanza e Infraestructura en la Cuenca Alta del Río Madeira (Bolivia – Brasil). Access here.
Coordinators
Hover over image for information and to contact coordinators.
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