Vivir bien: intercultural and spiritual approach to water and power in time of climate change and political transformation

Climate change and lack of freshwater are a concern for people living in the Andean highlands, altiplano of Bolivia. The objectives of this study were to establish a culturally appropriate research approach to study water governance and to identify key political actors and engagement processes related to water governance in Bolivia. A qualitative field study was conducted in the Department of La Paz, Bolivia, in July 2019. Any study of water management must look across multiple spatial scales and take into consideration the larger landscapes - infrastructural/technological and also ecological within which water management occurs. In the unique political and social context of Bolivia, particularly if one takes seriously the country’s commitment to giving voice to its indigenous people, the governance of water cannot be decoupled from a cultural, and also spiritual, conception of water as Mother; as well as Mother Earth. A current political transformation of public water policies draws from the cultural / spiritual paradigm of Vivir Bien which includes a hope and dream for the future in the present. Intercultural engagement reaches ancestral wisdom (Amawtika science) through indigenous traditional knowledge and then relates it to western knowledge to coexist in community. These findings can inform a respectful intercultural research and engagement process to address the climate crisis.