Research Development

The research work in Queuco emerged as a valuable opportunity for collaboration between scientists, local organizations, and members of the Mapuche Pewenche communities. The work has been developed with a research approach based on explicit openness to dialogue of knowledge between scientific disciplines and other systems of knowledge, such as local knowledges and the knowledges of indigenous peoples.

The scientific research methodologies chosen for this work come from disciplines such as hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, ecology, anthropology, and law. Meanwhile, the learning of local knowledge has been collected with special attention to values such as respect, responsibility, and territorial relevance. The protagonists have been kimche (bearers of traditional wisdom), inhabitants of each lob, and actors in the territory linked to water management.

Meet the team>

The work has been developed with a research approach based on explicit openness to dialogue of knowledge.

Participants

Under an inclusive and participatory approach, the research brought together several participants:

Lob

Kimche (traditional knowledge holders), local inhabitants, youth, lonko and other local authorities

University

PhD researcher, advisors, interviewed researchers, fish conservation laboratory and fieldwork team

Institutions

Rural Potable Water Committee, Alto Biobío Municipality, National Water Directorate

NGO's

Malen Leubu Rafting, Red por la Defensa del Río Queuco, Ríos to Rivers

These groups participated and were involved in a variety of activities, such as collective mapping workshops, fish sampling campaigns, and participatory river monitoring. This has enabled the co-production of knowledge and the development of various materials that allow for teaching and learning more about the bio-cultural heritage of the Queuco River, and thus being able to challenge traditional power dynamics that result from unequal access to information.

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Participatory Monitoring of the River Level

In May 2020, during the full deployment of the pandemic in Chile, we began a participatory monitoring of the Queuco and Biobío Rivers. For this, we used an application called CrowdWater, a free participatory science application developed for monitoring hydrological variables, especially in remote and information-free locations.

This experience was recorded in a micro-documentary that you can review here.

CrowdWater is a free participatory science application developed for monitoring hydrological variables

Río Queuco