“If the Pilcomayo River is lost, the Weenhayek people will be lost” – governance of fisheries and indigenous institutional diversity in southern Bolivia

ABSTRACT

Understanding institutional diversity is crucial for the recognition of rural communities and their institutional processes as fundamental to their agency and autonomy. Deficiencies hinder the adequate implementation of agricultural projects and the achievement of collective rights. Thus, this article analyses the institutional diversity of the Weenhayek people in southern Bolivia and their governance of fishing on the Pilcomayo River. Weenhayeks have a fishing identity, creating aquatic food systems and a riverine culture. We undertake document analysis (20), participant observation, and interviews (13). Our results reveal that the Weenhayek’s indigenous governance system is not homogeneous throughout their territory. The “fuzziness” of the socio-ecological boundaries shows the fragility of the formal institutional boundaries. This indicates the importance of perspectives that addresses institutions beyond formal schemes, to support sustainable food systems and food sovereignty.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Aquatic food systems
• institutional diversity
• community-based governance
• Pilcomayo river
• social-ecological systems
• rural development

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the collaboration for this research to the Comunidad de Estudios JAINA as local research institution and the political organization of Weenhayek’ peoples (ORCAWETA) in Bolivia. Further, we acknowledge to the postgraduate scholarships programme of the Ministry of Education of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (100 Scientific and technological scholarships). The research project that frames this publication is funded by the Academy for International Agricultural Research (ACINAR). ACINAR, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is being carried out by ATSAF e.V. on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. “Robustness” is a term used to characterize systems that are partially externally designed. Therefore, Anderies et al., (2003, p. 6), citing Carslon and Doyle (2002), indicates that a desired system is robust when it will be maintained even if there are fluctuations in the behavior of its components or the environment in which it is located.

2. “Territorio Comunitario de Origen” (TCO). Community Territory of Origin in English.

3. Approximately from mid -September to mid-April.

4. The Weenhayek people refer to.

5. The “pollera” is a non-traditional type of fishing that is often used for subsistence fishing. It is mostly used when the river is shallow, but can be used all year round as long as the water level is not high. It is used individually and can be used for commercial purposes (Coca Méndez et al., 2019, p. 321). While there is a PA, there are also other people who are individual pollereros and have no association with either Weenhayek or non-Weenhayek. Concessionaires can prohibit “pollereros” from entering their concessions.

6. Wild species of plants in South America belonging to the family of Bromeliaceae, are commonly named “caraguatá” or “karawata” in the semiarid areas of the Chaco region. All these species are herbaceous forest plants with evergreen bladed leaves found in the semi-arid parts of the Gran Chaco region in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. The karawata´s strong fiber has been used for centuries by the Wichís and Weenhayeks to make household objects like bags, ponchos, clothing, nets and ropes (Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, 2023).

7. We refer to the consultation and cooperation processes that must be established with the indigenous peoples represented through their own institutions, in order to obtain their free, prior, and informed consent before adopting and implementing any type of measure that may affect them (United Nations: Human Rights, 2018). In our specific case, we refer to the extraction of hydrocarbons within the Weenhayek territory.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the ACINAR (Academy for International Agricultural Research).