UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Building a collective identity of the river: lessons learned from transdisciplinary research in the Caoní River basin, Ecuador

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.31273/j913jf70

Authors

Émilie Dupuits · Cecilia Puertas

Reported year

2026

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.586490+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:16:16.860721+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Universidad Internacional del Ecuador · Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Reported affiliation countries

EC

Documentary abstract — original language

The Caoní River watershed, located within the Pichincha Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve in northwestern Ecuador, is a territory affected by deforestation dynamics and water pollution. In response, citizen groups have mobilized to protect the river as a living entity through the creation of the Salvemos el Caoní initiative, supported by NGOs and academia. This article explores how transdisciplinary research tools implemented within the framework of an international cooperation project have contributed to building and strengthening a shared identity around the river as a common good in a context of ecosystem and human social fragmentation. The methodology integrates three transdisciplinary research tools under the umbrella of an embodied learning approach: community river monitoring, the co-construction of environmental narratives, and participatory mapping. The objective is to identify both the benefits and challenges of these tools in mapping sources of pollution, assessing species at risk, and collectively designing a watershed conservation mechanism within a context of local tensions among multiple interests and actors surrounding the river. Finally, the article analyzes how, on the one hand, the process strengthened local capacities and fostered trust and cooperation among municipalities, community organizations, private stakeholders, and academia. On the other hand, it examines both the progress and tensions involved in strengthening collective identity and action around the river as a necessary prior step toward defending the river as a rights-bearing subject under Ecuador’s constitutional framework of the Rights of Nature.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W7213999727

DOI

10.31273/j913jf70

OPENAIRE

doi_________::fd67bbd69545d9e558d9016cd3645354

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

EC

Natural entities mentioned

River · Watershed · Ecosystem · Species · Territory

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.31273/j913jf70
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7213999727

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w3181298062 · CITES
• openalex:w4360613760 · CITES
• openalex:w4376566922 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.