ZEF Public Lecture: Participatory Communal Indicators of Well-Being and Wetland Rights: the Case of the Aguaizal Community in the Bolivian Amazon

January 9, 2025 | 13:30 h - 14:30 h

Speaker: Dennis Aviles-Irahola (ZEF Senior Researcher)
Topic: Participatory Communal Indicators of Well-Being and Wetland Rights: the Case of the Aguaizal Community in the Bolivian Amazon

Abstract: When management and monitoring of protected areas are made in an inclusive and participatory manner, local communities are more likely to accept and support them. This enhances the legitimacy of conservation policies and helps reduce the emergence of environmental conflicts. However, planning and monitoring processes are often driven by technicians, who are disconnected from the interests and knowledge of local populations. These approaches heavily rely on monitoring and evaluation indicators focused on bio-physical factors, typically quantitative data that are difficult to understand, measure, or track without specialized expertise and equipment.
While there have been innovative efforts to monitor the governance of protected areas and incorporate sustainability indicators in environmental projects, a gap remains in identifying community-driven indicators that can be measured by the communities themselves and, at the same time, lead to meaningful improvements in their daily lives. 
During a research visit to the Bolivian Catholic University, Dennis Avilés-Irahola proposed and implemented a methodology for identifying and measuring indicators of 'good living' and wetland rights, with a gender perspective. The results demonstrate that, despite significant political, capacity-building, and organizational weaknesses within both government and local organizations, communities can successfully identify and monitor social, environmental, and economic indicators. Furthermore, it is possible to promote the transformation of gender relations over time to advance the process.
Dr. Dennis L. Avilés-Irahola is an Alumna of ZEF and has served as a Senior Researcher at ZEF CPC since January 2019. With a diverse academic background in agriculture, ecology, gender, and development studies, she contributes her expertise to the DSSP program. Additionally, she is a co-founder and co-coordinator of the ZEF Gender Group. Prior to joining ZEF, Dennis worked as a consultant for various international organizations, focusing on mainstreaming gender and social participation in climate- and agriculture-related projects across rural communities in multiple regions worldwide. Most recently, she completed a research visit at the Bolivian Catholic University, based in the Bolivian Amazon.
 

The presentation will be in hybrid mode; the in-house colleagues are expected to attend in person. Please be also invited to join us for coffee/tea and cookies after the public lecture.
 

Register in advance for this meeting: https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/yi_l1xeFRuq27dHsm22Uog 
contact: Fazlullah Akhtar, Hannah Ameye, Andreas Gohlke
 

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