Using water flows in temporal and spatial scales as entry point to analyse the socio-ecological and political drivers for ecosystem degradation and restoration. Exploring the case of Bogota River from a political ecology perspective

The main research question I explore is: What are the political and socio-environmental factors that can explain the Bogota’s river governance failure related to its pollution? To achieve this I analyse the relationship between society in the basin and the flow of water from a political ecology pers...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor Principal: Escovar Bernal, María Alejandra
Formato: Trabajo de grado (Bachelor Thesis)
Lenguaje:Desconocido (Unknown)
Publicado: 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://babel.banrepcultural.org/cdm/ref/collection/p17054coll23/id/95
Descripción
Sumario:The main research question I explore is: What are the political and socio-environmental factors that can explain the Bogota’s river governance failure related to its pollution? To achieve this I analyse the relationship between society in the basin and the flow of water from a political ecology perspective. This work is divided in five sections, which includes a literature review relating the theories of the political ecology of the production of nature, common pool resource management, Tragedy of the Commons and governance. The scope of this work is limited to Bogota River’s basin in the spatial scale and the historical processes of the last 50 years. After evaluating the different interactions of the stakeholders and the river, I discuss that Bogota’s river has become a political object, using Robbins (2012) theses of political ecology. I arrive at this conclusion after analysing Bogota River’s situation following the flow of the water in spatial and temporal dimensions, seeing the production of nature (and in this case a polluted river as a result) as a historical spatial-ecological transformation that expresses the contradictions and tensions of modern times by the transformation of nature and society. I follow the water creating a narrative, to explore modernity as a geographical and socially contested project. Finally, I analyse how the sentence published in March 2014, by the Colombian State’s Council, currently tackles the issues that undermine good governance, identified in the rivers narrative and how it might help or hinder river restoration.