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

Abstract

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.