Artículo en acceso abierto

La Ley de Recursos Hídricos (No 29338) de 2009 transformó el marco normativo e institucional del sector hídrico en el Perú hacia un enfoque en la Gestión Integrada de Recursos Hídricos (GIRH). Este cambio fue significativo después de 40 años de vigencia de la ley anterior que priorizaba el uso agrícola del recurso hídrico. A través de un análisis del marco normativo actual y la institucionalidad existente combinado con una mirada a las relaciones históricas entre la burocracia hídrica del Estado y la sociedad peruana, este artículo argumenta que la institucionalidad del agua contemporánea refleja la persistencia de una cultura tecnocrática basada en la ingeniería y la manipulación y control de la naturaleza que predominaba al nivel global en el siglo 20. El trabajo muestra como la burocracia hídrica actual en el Perú ha consolidado su autoridad sobre el agua a travé...

The 2009 Hydrologic Resources Law (Law 29338) shifted the legal and institutional framework in Peru’s water sector toward a focus on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). This change formally ended the explicit prioritization of water for agricultural uses that had prevailed for four decades under the prior legal regime enacted during the nation’s agrarian reform. This article combines analysis of Peru’s current legal and institutional setting for water management with examination of the historical dynamics betweenthe state water bureaucracy and Peruvian society to argue that the existing arrangements for water governance reflect the enduring influence of an engineer-led technocracy rooted in the high-modernist approaches of the 20th century. The article illustrates how the state bureaucracy has consolidated centralized authority over the water sector through assimilation an...

The 2009 Hydrologic Resources Law (Law 29338) shifted the legal and institutional framework in Peru’s water sector toward a focus on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). This change formally ended the explicit prioritization of water for agricultural uses that had prevailed for four decades under the prior legal regime enacted during the nation’s agrarian reform. This article combines analysis of Peru’s current legal and institutional setting for water management with examination of the historical dynamics betweenthe state water bureaucracy and Peruvian society to argue that the existing arrangements for water governance reflect the enduring influence of an engineer-led technocracy rooted in the high-modernist approaches of the 20th century. The article illustrates how the state bureaucracy has consolidated centralized authority over the water sector through assimilation an...

Ponencia presentada el 2 de mayo del 2017 en el marco del Foro “Experiencias Latinoamericanas sobre Organismos de Cuenca”, organizado por la Autoridad Nacional del Agua (ANA).

Original abstract: Climate change is forcing dramatic glacier mass loss in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, resulting in hydrologic transformations across the Rio Santa watershed and increasing human vulnerability. This article presents results from two years of transdisciplinary collaborative research evaluating the complex relationships between coupled environmental and social change in the region. First, hydrologic results suggest there has been an average increase of 1.6 (± 1.1) percent in the specific discharge of the more glacier-covered catchments (>20 percent glacier area) as a function of changes in stable isotopes of water (d18O and d2H) from 2004 to 2006. Second, there is a large (mean 60 percent) component of groundwater in dry season discharge based on results from the hydrochemical basin characterization method. Third, findings from extensive key interviews and seventy-two ran...

Original abstract: Glacier shrinkage caused by climate change is likely to trigger diminished and less consistent stream flow in glacier-fed watersheds worldwide. To understand, model, and adapt to these climate-glacier-water changes, it is vital to integrate the analysis of both water availability (the domain of hydrologists) and water use (the focus for social scientists). Drawn from a case study of the Santa River watershed below Peru’s glaciated Cordillera Blanca mountain range, this paper provides a holistic hydro-social framework that identifies five major human variables critical to hydrological modeling because these forces have profoundly influenced water use over the last 60 years: (1) political agendas and economic development; (2) governance: laws and institutions; (3) technology and engineering; (4) land and resource use; and (5) societal responses. Notable shifts in Santa...

Original abstract: Glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, are undergoing rapid retreat, in large part due to climate change. These changes are significantly altering water availability in the region and pose critical risks to local populations that are highly dependent on these resources for livelihoods. We examine these issues through an interdisciplinary and linked evaluation of hydrological change and livelihood vulnerability in the Yanamarey watershed. Physical observations of the Yanamarey glacier show acceleration in frontal retreat at a rate of 8 m decade¿-¿1 since 1970, accompanied by total volume loss on the order of 0.022 km3. Hydrological and hydrochemical analyses document a possible transformation of stream flow over the past decade as the seasonal storage capacity of the glacier has degraded. Recent stream discharge measurements from the proglacial lake below the glacie...

Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre / Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru