Injustice flows along Itaya River
Capabilities from living with river rhythmicity in Bajo Belén, Iquitos, Peru
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12950418 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Heidi Mendoza (0000-0002-5836-7062, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, corresponding author), Anne F Van Loon (0000-0003-2308-0392, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Johanna Koehler (0000-0002-9045-4844, Wageningen University & Research), Melanie Rohse (0000-0002-8613-2092, Anglia Ruskin University), B G Tuesta Cartagena (Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana), P F S Diaz (Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana), Carmen Vásquez (0000-0002-0657-3470, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana), Caridad Souza (Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana), E A V Izaguirre (Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1083-1097 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sustainability Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1862-4057 • E-ISSN: 1862-4065 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11625-025-01771-y |
| OpenAlex | W4417083535 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 48 |
In riverine contexts shaped by seasonal fluctuations, communities cultivate ways of living with water that reflect deep social and ecological entanglements. This study focuses on Bajo Belén, a peri-urban community along the Itaya River in the Peruvian Amazon, where residents live with vaciante (dry season) and creciente (flood season) through practices that sustain their livelihoods. Using a braided approach by weaving living with river rhythmicity, the Capabilities Approach, and Environmental Justice, we analyze 41 storytelling sessions (2022–2024). Our findings show drought and flood processes; and how community capabilities are built through living with the river, yet remain unrecognized in state responses such as forced relocation. This non-recognition leads to non-inclusive procedures and an unequal distribution of blame and responsibility. We argue for governance that respects plural ways of living and supports community-defined aspirations. Situating care, recognition, and capability within river governance offers new pathways for more just, relational, and adaptive responses to environmental uncertainty
Blame · Corporate governance · Environmental governance · Flood myth · Injustice · Plural · State (computer science · Sustainability · Sustainable Living · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Indigenous Health and Education · Water Governance and Infrastructure
Designs for the Pluriverse
Poetic Inquiry
What kind of governance for what kind of equity? Towards a theorization of justice in water governance
Defining, researching and struggling for water justice
Creating Capabilities
Entre Agua Y Tierra, Entre Vernáculo Y Contemporáneo
On Space, On Place
Indigenous Climate Change Studies
River rhythmicity
Imagining Latin American Social Science from the Global South
Adaptive Management Strategies of Local Communities in Two Amazonian Floodplain Ecosystems in the Face of Extreme Climate Events
Hydropower, Encroachment and the Re-patterning of Hydrosocial Territory
Local ecological knowledge and incremental adaptation to changing flood patterns in the Amazon delta
From environmental to climate justice
Indigenous Struggles, Environmental Justice, and Community Capabilities
Sí a la vida, al agua y al territorio’
Climate Justice and Capabilities
Water and Human Development
Disorientations
Resisting Post‐Political Adaptation to Climate Change
What is a bad flood? Local perspectives of extreme floods in the Peruvian Amazon
Poem is What?” Poetic Inquiry in Qualitative Social Science Research
Sacrifice Zones” in the Green Energy Economy
Cultural politics and the hydrosocial cycle
The hydrosocial cycle
The Capability Approach
The Perception of the Environment
Rendering the World Unsafe
Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate Change
Situated Knowledges
Storytelling in a digital age
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |