Moving Rivers Webinar Series, organized by WRM Riverhood and River Commons projects

The Riverhood and River Commons team of the Water Resources Management group cordially invites you to attend the Moving Rivers Webinar Series. The aim of these webinars is to create a space for inter (trans) disciplinary dialogue between Ph.D. researchers and project partners: International/National NGOs, water policy and advocacy institutes, governmental water management institutions, and civil society water platforms. The Moving Rivers Webinar Series also seeks to actively promote exchanges between theory and practice on river regeneration, socio-ecological justice andthe formulation of more equitable water policies.

The first Moving Rivers Webinar will focus on Social mobilization, environmental and water democracy in Spain and Colombia on February 17, 2023 / 15:00 – 16:30 CET time.

The session will explore some key questions around water issues, by bringing to the table experiences from civil water networks and movements. How can researchers and activists interact and collaborate in the generation of shared knowledge and understanding of our socio-political-ecological environments? How is information produced and reproduced and how can it be transformed into actionable knowledge? The experience of water-related networked citizen organizations (Citizen water networks) and the New Water Culture Foundation (Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua or FNCA) in Spain can provide some relevant insights. These networks are coalitions of environmental groups, citizen organizations, activists, scholars, local municipalities, and other actors organized to defend the patrimonial values associated with water and river ecosystems. The same goes for diverse justice networks in Colombia. How can legal mobilization contribute to advancing environmental justice? What is the role of academia in such strategies? What are the main challenges of doing politically engaged research? The case for the defence of La Miel river can shed some light on understanding how those queries play out in the resistance against hydroelectric projects.

• Nuria Hernandez-Mora (Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua, Spain)

Nuria Hernández-Mora is a researcher, consultant and activist. Her work focuses on water governance, policy evaluation and design, institutional analysis, water economics, public participation and drought and scarcity in Spain and the EU.

• Ana Arbelaez Trujillo (PhD researcher, Riverhood project, Wageningen University)

Ana María Arbeláez-Trujillo is an Environmental Lawyer and PhD Researcher at WUR (part of the Riverhood project). Her research interests include environmental justice, political ecology, rural development, and critical legal studies.

• Rutgerd Boelens (Professor at Wageningen University and CEDLA University of Amsterdam)

Rutgerd Boelens is professor at Wageningen University and CEDLA University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on political ecology, water governance, cultural politics, governmentality and social mobilization. He coordinates the Justicia Hídrica alliance and the Riverhood and River Commons programs.

Register for attending the webinar on Social mobilization, environmental and water democracy in Spain and Colombia (February 17, 2023 / 15:00 – 16:30 CET time). More webinars will follow and soon be announced. Stay tuned!