Restoration as a re-commoning process. Territorial initiative and global conditions in the process of water recovery in the ‘Cordillera de Nahuelbuta’, Chile

Abstract

Restoring ecosystems in Chile is urgent, given the negative impacts of the prevailing extractive development model. The articulation of collaborative relationships between land and resource owners and the communities who inhabit and form a part of ecosystems has turned out to be a key variable in this activity. The empirical basis for the present study is a case that reveals how a network of women inhabiting the ‘Cordillera de Nahuelbuta’, on the border between the Biobío and Araucanía Regions in southern Chile, began a restoration process linked to several stakeholders of the basin. We employed qualitative and ethnographic methodologies to collect and analyse the perspectives of various actors involved. This research included 16 in-depth interviews, participant observation, and the analysis of secondary sources. Among the factors that made this experience possible are: i) community motivation, ii) the requirements imposed by an international certification that impelled forestry companies to participate in projects incorporating local peasants, and iii) the availability of other actors and wills in civil society, all assembled to promote restoration. Today, obstacles that could impede the further development and sustainability of the experience arise from the difficulties of maintaining permanent coordination with the corporations and whether they value the sustainability of these initiatives. This venture eventually evolved into a restoration cooperative run by members of the local community of peasants and small-scale farmers. This experience is highly relevant for socioecological studies since it shows that restoration initiatives can integrate disparate interests responding to distinct paradigms of nature and economy.

Keywords

• paula meli