UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Dams and Damages. Conflicting Epistemological Frameworks and Interests Concerning “Compensation” for the Misicuni Project’s Socio-Environmental Impacts in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.3390/w11030408

Authors

Paul Hoogendam · Rutgerd Boelens

Reported year

2019

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.840770+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:04:47.840770+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Central University of Ecuador · Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú · University of Amsterdam · Wageningen University & Research

Reported affiliation countries

EC · NL · PE

Documentary abstract — original language

The Misicuni multipurpose hydraulic project was designed to transfer water from a neighboring watershed to the Cochabamba Valley in the center of Bolivia for domestic, hydropower, and agricultural use. The project involved the construction of a 120 m high large dam and a 19 km transfer tunnel, which negatively affected the rural indigenous host communities that were deprived of productive lands, houses, and livelihoods. This article critically analyzes the process to compensate for harmful effects, demonstrating the existence of divergent knowledge systems, interpretations, and valuing of what was affected and how the impacts had to be compensated. The analysis shows that the compensation was fundamentally a process of negotiation about the meaning and the contested commensuration that was implemented in a context of unequal power relations between state institutions and the indigenous population. This led to unfavorable arrangements for the affected communities. The article details the discussions about impacts, knowledge, and values of key elements of the compensation process and highlights how “compensation” was embedded in the wider struggle over territorial control and natural resource governance. The unreliability of the state institutions worsened the negative impacts for the rural communities because the negotiated outcomes were not always materialized.

Identifiers

DOI

10.3390/w11030408

OPENALEX

W2915604396

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

BO

Natural entities mentioned

Watershed · Territory

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

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030408
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2915604396

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:w1550639390 · CITES
• openalex:w1602775671 · CITES
• openalex:w1979437250 · CITES
• openalex:w1986095484 · CITES
• openalex:w2027469057 · CITES
• openalex:w2027732692 · CITES
• openalex:w2040817192 · CITES
• openalex:w2048405150 · CITES
• openalex:w2082172702 · CITES
• openalex:w2091783383 · CITES
• openalex:w2092111982 · CITES
• openalex:w2097544160 · CITES
• openalex:w2103998560 · CITES
• openalex:w2107030911 · CITES
• openalex:w2139799726 · CITES
• openalex:w2148605782 · CITES
• openalex:w2157039266 · CITES
• openalex:w2177886724 · CITES
• openalex:w2256313746 · CITES
• openalex:w2257891738 · CITES

5 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.