SCALAR POLITICS AND THE CO-EVOLUTION

Transcience, 2022

This paper sets out to critically examine the New Institutional Framework for Environmental Governance (NIFEG) adopted in Chile through new legislation in 2010. Though nominally progressive in both social and environmental terms, the heavy reliance on bureaucratization as the key means for improving the legitimacy and effectiveness of environmental governance paradoxically appears to result in the reinforcement of the network of dominant interests in this policy domain. As a result, this leads to the canalization of socio-environmental conflicts through public mobilization and judicialization, that is: to the bypassing of political representative institutions. By framing Chile as a laboratory of ecological modernization in a semiperipheral, extractivist context, and through the theoretical and methodological lens of dramaturgical analysis, this paper looks at discursive processes shaping environmental governance as a result of staged performances. It seeks to explore how the interplay of diverse elements-ranging from material enablers and restrictions to processes of psychological and cultural identification between actors and their audiencesresult in the reinforcement of path-dependencies in the way of framing sustainable development within traditional power structures. This results in an "oligarchization" of environmental governance which ultimately translates into further deteriorating environmental trends and raises fundamental questions about the limits of environmental governance alongside the discursive lines of ecological modernization.

Ecology and Society, 2014

In Chile, a Territorial User Rights for Fisheries system was developed to manage benthic fisheries. This system is referred to as Management Areas for the Exploitation of Benthic Resources. Management areas involved a shift from top-down control by governments to comanagement. We have analyzed the effects of a highly variable fishery, characterized by boom-and-bust cycles, on the governance of local institutions designed for resource management. We focused on a case study in north central Chile, in which the surf clam fishery experienced high levels of variability when the fishery was in an open access system. The management areas were established for the fishery in 1999. As a result, a set of rules for the fishery were created and enforced by fishers and local fishery authorities. Despite intense efforts on the part of all stakeholders, the fishery collapsed after three years of management area policy. This approach has been shown to be an effective management option for other species; however, for resources with boom-and-bust cycles, it is important to understand the response pattern of users confronting this spatial and temporal variability before the establishment of territorial user rights. Defining the appropriate spatial scale of the territorial rights could allow fishers to switch among different surf clam beds to maintain their livelihood and support the sustainability of local institutions for resource management.

Scottish Geographical Journal, 2018

In Latin America and the Global South, policy-makers are adopting community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) principles for local governments. The idealized emphasis on 'local' collaborative approaches is known to neglect human geographic contexts and issues of capacity, power, and human drivers of change at larger scales. However, critiques lack empirical evidence of policy implementation decisions. How do local government and community actors choose to use decentralized environmental governance policies in relation to a threatened cultural and natural landscape across their jurisdictions? This question is explored in an ethnographic case of a high Andean wetland region in southern Ecuador by focusing on the context and micropolitics of two seemingly contradictory local government decisions: proposals to nationalize a local community protected area and to work with other local governments to construct a road across the wetlands that could threaten protected area status. When different sectors are devolved to different local actors without strong sub-state institutions for conflict management, decentralization may create incentives for conflict rather than conservation. Governance design depends on understanding how and why diverse local actors engage in boundary-spanning regional strategies, calling for additional contributions from political geographers.

This article sheds light on the exclusionary dynamics that emerge when the construction of commons-based alternative political ecologies does not take political economy considerations into account. It analyses the relationship between Tamera – Healing Biotope I, and the ecosystem, population and institutions of the region of southwestern Alentejo, Portugal, where this ecovillage is located. Tamera is based on a prefigurative process of "commoning", transplanted from Central European counter-culture, which created a "borderland" that spatially segregates and at the same time creates a point of contact between two contrasting cultural, ecological and socioeconomic realities. However, maintaining the "borderland" granted the community access to the resources needed to develop its vision, while countering existing regulations, although eventually involving the state in the development of a new regulatory framework. Since the mid-2000s, Tamera has been engaging in cultural dialogue with the local population, with the support of the municipality. The analysis raises the question of how to develop regulatory and financial instruments that support ecovillages in promoting inclusive strategies of economic sustainability, integrating them in place-based dynamics of regional development. The specificities of their biophysical and social processes must be taken into account, as well as their vocation as "testfields" for sustainability. Cet article traite de la dynamique d'exclusion qui peuvent émerger lors de la construction écologies politiques alternatives basées sur la gestion collective des biens communs ne tient pas compte des considérations d'économie politique. Il est basé sur l'étude de cas de la relation entre Tamera-Biotope guérison I, un écovillage situé dans la municipalité de Odemira (Portugal) et de l'écosystème, la population et les institutions de la région. La construction de Tamera est basée sur un processus de préfiguration « commoning » qui a été transplanté contre-culture en Europe centrale au sud-ouest de l'Alentejo. Ce processus a créé une « zone frontalière » qui sépare en même temps, crée un point de contact entre deux réalités culturelles, écologiques et socio-économiques contrastées. Cependant, cette « zone frontalière » a accordé l'accès communautaire aux ressources nécessaires pour développer leur point de vue, contrairement aux règlements en vigueur et impliquant l'Etat dans l'élaboration d'un nouveau cadre réglementaire. Depuis des années mi-2000s, Tamera a fait la promotion d'un dialogue culturel avec la population locale, en comptant sur le soutien de la municipalité. L'analyse soulève la question de savoir comment élaborer des instruments réglementaires et financiers qui soutiennent les écovillages dans la promotion de stratégies inclusives de durabilité économique; et aussi les intégrant dans la dynamique de développement régional. Les spécificités de leurs processus biophysiques et sociaux doivent être prises en compte, ainsi que leur vocation de « testfields » pour la durabilité. Este artículo aborda las dinámicas de exclusión que pueden emerger cuando la construcción de ecologías políticas alternativas basada en la gestión colectiva de bienes comunes no tiene en cuenta consideraciones de la economía política. Se basa en el estudio de caso de la relación entre Tamera - Healing Biotope I, una ecoaldea ubicada en el municipio de Odemira (Portugal) y el ecosistema, población e instituciones de la región. La construcción de Tamera se basa en un proceso prefigurativo de "commoning" que fue trasplantado de la contracultura de Europa Central hacia el suroeste de Alentejano. Este proceso creó una "zona de frontera" que segrega y al mismo tiempo, crea un punto de contacto entre dos realidades culturales, ecológicas y socioeconómicas contrastantes. Sin embargo, esa "zona fronteriza" concedió a la comunidad el acceso a los recursos necesarios para desarrollar su visión, contrariando los reglamentos existentes e involucrando el estado en el desarrollo de un nuevo marco regulatorio. Desde mediados de la década de 2000, Tamera ha promovido un diálogo cultural con la población local, contando para ello con el apoyo del municipio. Este análisis plantea la cuestión de cómo desarrollar instrumentos regulatorios y financieros que apoyen las ecoaldeas en la promoción de estrategias inclusivas de sostenibilidad económica y las integren en dinámicas de desarrollo regional. Estos instrumentos deben tener en cuenta las especificidades de los procesos biofísicos y sociales de estas iniciativas, así como su vocación como "laboratorios" para la sostenibilidad.

Proceedings of the …, 2010

Marine ecosystems are in decline. New transformational changes in governance are urgently required to cope with overfishing, pollution, global changes, and other drivers of degradation. Here we explore social, political, and ecological aspects of a transformation in governance of Chile's coastal marine resources, from 1980 to today. Critical elements in the initial preparatory phase of the transformation were (i) recognition of the depletion of resource stocks, (ii) scientific knowledge on the ecology and resilience of targeted species and their role in ecosystem dynamics, and (iii) demonstration-scale experimental trials, building on smaller-scale scientific experiments, which identified new management pathways. The trials improved cooperation among scientists and fishers, integrating knowledge and establishing trust. Political turbulence and resource stock collapse provided a window of opportunity that triggered the transformation, supported by new enabling legislation. Essential elements to navigate this transformation were the ability to network knowledge from the local level to influence the decision-making processes at the national level, and a preexisting social network of fishers that provided political leverage through a national confederation of artisanal fishing collectives. The resultant governance scheme includes a revolutionary national system of marine tenure that allocates user rights and responsibilities to fisher collectives. Although fine tuning is necessary to build resilience of this new regime, this transformation has improved the sustainability of the interconnected social-ecological system. Our analysis of how this transformation unfolded provides insights into how the Chilean system could be further developed and identifies generalized pathways for improved governance of marine resources around the world.

Journal of Rural Studies, 2015, 42:179–190

Our article focuses on the region of Chilean Patagonia and considers how it has developed as a leading producer of salmon for global food markets. It addresses the problem of how to decentre conventional views of the forces driving regional development that give primacy to the role of capital and technology, instead giving due recognition to the knowledge and practices of situated actors and to the relationships that form between human and non-human entities in food producing regions. As an alternative, we ask whether an assemblage approach can improve our understanding of regional transformation. To explore this question, we present original ethnographic data on constitutive practices that have transformed the Patagonian region, from the territorialization of Salmonidae species to experimentation in ocean ranching and seawater fish farming, and finally the development of a global industry. The evidence leads us to argue that in a complex globalised world, assemblage theory offers a valuable approach for understanding how regional potential is realised. In the case of Chilean Patagonia, it is apparent that forms of bio-power generate new relations between life, agency and nature, stimulating contemporary regional transformations in ways overlooked by the lineal logic of capital objectification discourses. Applying an assemblage approach enables the significance of new contemporary human e non-human relationships and inter-subjectivities to come to the fore, keeping the social in view as potential for regional transformation and new power asymmetries continuously emerge.

2017

This article sheds light on the exclusionary dynamics that emerge when the construction of commons-based alternative political ecologies does not take political economy considerations into account. It analyses the relationship between Tamera – Healing Biotope I, and the ecosystem, population and institutions of the region of southwestern Alentejo, Portugal, where this ecovillage is located. Tamera is based on a prefigurative process of "commoning", transplanted from Central European counter-culture, which created a "borderland" that spatially segregates and at the same time creates a point of contact between two contrasting cultural, ecological and socioeconomic realities. However, maintaining the "borderland" granted the community access to the resources needed to develop its vision, while countering existing regulations, although eventually involving the state in the development of a new regulatory framework. Since the mid-2000s, Tamera has been engaging in cultural dialogue with the local population, with the support of the municipality. The analysis raises the question of how to develop regulatory and financial instruments that support ecovillages in promoting inclusive strategies of economic sustainability, integrating them in place-based dynamics of regional development. The specificities of their biophysical and social processes must be taken into account, as well as their vocation as "testfields" for sustainability. Résumé Cet article traite de la dynamique d'exclusion qui peuvent émerger lors de la construction écologies politiques alternatives basées sur la gestion collective des biens communs ne tient pas compte des considérations d'économie politique. Il est basé sur l'étude de cas de la relation entre Tamera-Biotope guérison I, un écovillage situé dans la municipalité de Odemira (Portugal) et de l'écosystème, la population et les institutions de la région. La construction de Tamera est basée sur un processus de préfiguration « commoning » qui a été transplanté contre-culture en Europe centrale au sud-ouest de l'Alentejo. Ce processus a créé une « zone frontalière » qui sépare en même temps, crée un point de contact entre deux réalités culturelles, écologiques et socio-économiques contrastées. Cependant, cette « zone frontalière » a accordé l'accès communautaire aux ressources nécessaires pour développer leur point de vue, contrairement aux règlements en vigueur et impliquant l'Etat dans l'élaboration d'un nouveau cadre réglementaire. Depuis des années mi-2000s, Tamera a fait la promotion d'un dialogue culturel avec la population locale, en comptant sur le soutien de la municipalité. L'analyse soulève la question de savoir comment élaborer des instruments réglementaires

Political ecology is the disciplinary and political field regarding the encountering of different rationalities for the social appropriation of nature and the construction of a sustainable future. This historical purpose demands the deconstruction of theories and practices built on the foundations of scientific, economic, technological and political modern rationality, inscribed in national and international institutions of the globalized world and rooted in the life-worlds of the people, to establish new socio-environmental relations. Political ecology operates this deconstruction not only in theory, but through emancipation practices of those people engaged in struggles for the reinvention of their identities and the re-appropriation of their bio-cultural territories. Environmental rationality deconstructs the economic rationality by constructing an eco-technological-cultural paradigm of production founded on the principle of negentropic productivity. The conditions of life of diverse cultures, registered on people’s imaginaries and practices, reemerge today in the re-signification and re-affirmation of cultural identities in their struggles for the re-appropriation of nature and re-territorialization of their life-worlds.

Geoforum, 2013

This paper discusses the Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) crisis that affected the salmon industry in Chile between 2007 and 2009. For nearly 30 years, the salmon industry grew exponentially to become one of the top five exporting sectors, and the face of the new Chile: globalized and democratic. I argue that the crisis showed cracks in the neoliberal environmental governance mechanisms followed by Chile during that period, raising questions about the need for socially restructuring the political economy relationship with the environment by increasing state oversight over the use of the natural landscape in which the industry produced, while allowing firms to continue their exploitation pattern and global exports of commodities as their accumulation strategy. Furthermore, the political solutions that were introduced tested the ideological reliance of neoliberal environmental governance mechanisms on science and knowledge production for providing appropriate answers.

Perspectives , 2024

Current research suggests that all states share a perpetual appetite for extraction and standardization. However, this research overlooks the fact that subnational regions present different appeals and challenges to ruling coalitions. While states seek to extend bureaucratic rule over peripheries with valuable assets and favorable geography, they might instead seek to preserve local patrimonial bastions when those areas offer substantial electoral support. In turn, these strategies lead to broad subnational heterogeneity in the reach of the state. This paper focuses on regions' ecological, military, and clientelistic features to explain local trajectories of bureaucratic rule and country-level state capacity. Empirically, I examine Chile, a successful case of capacity-building in Latin America. Prompted by a fiscal crisis in the mid-1850s, Chile's central government launched state-building projects to offset its budgetary deficit. Using GIS and original data from censuses, budgets, and other primary sources, I show that Chile's ruling coalition paradoxically modernized the country's peripheries while deepening its own traditionalism. These results challenge prevailing narratives about the projection of political authority and Chile's territorial uniformity.