Between November 2024 and February 2025, Boana led an unprecedented civic campaign in El Chaltén: a Call for Action (CFA) advocating for transparent, participatory, and ecologically responsible water governance in southern Patagonia. Rivers for Change was proud to support this project through a Source to Sea Grant.

Why This Matters

El Chaltén, a small town at the base of Los Glaciares National Park, faces urgent water and sanitation challenges. At the same time, decisions about water management often happen behind closed doors—far removed from the community members most affected.

So Boana called for:

• A clear, multi-year water governance roadmap with conservation objectives

•An emergency committee to respond to the sanitation crisis

•The activation of the Local Advisory Body, a key participatory mechanism

• The integration of community voices—especially women and youth

•Legal frameworks rooted in ecocentric rights

•A source-to-sea approach to protect water across its entire journey

They launched the CFA on January 21 across Instagram and our website, in both Spanish and English, alongside a petition that received 749 signatures.

A People-Powered Process

The CFA didn’t emerge overnight. Marie began drafting it solo, due to the complex and political nature of the work. By December, Eva (another member of Boana) joined to help align the advocacy statements with ongoing legal action and governance efforts.

On December 11, they held a collaborative workshop in El Chaltén, inviting community members to explore their own environmental concerns and learn about the CFA. The dialogue was rich—and revealing. Many participants felt excluded from institutional decision-making, believing they lacked the legitimacy or tools to engage. But once they introduced concepts like ecocentric rights or the source-to-sea lens, people lit up. These frameworks helped reframe governance as something inclusive, hopeful, and possible.

They formed a WhatsApp group with 14 participants, which still exists today as a space for continued collaboration.

A Growing Network—and Real Tension

The CFA opened a critical line of communication with the new Los Glaciares Park representative, Horacio Peloso. But just as their dialogue gained traction, a new controversy emerged: the unauthorized opening of trails and illegal logging by the National Administration.

Boana responded with legal action—and won a court order halting the destruction. It became clear that environmental justice tools are among the most effective ways forward. Meanwhile, the CFA continued to resonate. A local woodworker, Maile Suarez, spontaneously created a broader WhatsApp group uniting organizations from across town—from mountain guides to hockey players—to push for collective action.

This campaign was the only organized environmental advocacy campaign in the region this summer—and it showed what’s possible when civic engagement, legal action, education, and imagination come together.

What They Learned

•People need language and context to engage in governance. Reframing “boring” but crucial concepts like governance through engaging content, storytelling, and workshops is key.

•Activism must be multidimensional—blending education, legal strategies, direct outreach to institutions, and creative media.

•**Institutions won’t always come to us—**we must show up, physically and digitally, with persistence and clarity.

What’s Next?

We’re using everything we learned to build a longer-term strategy:

✅ Creating accessible content about governance and water justice

✅ Developing institutional briefs and reports rooted in political ecology

✅ Strengthening our community engagement through more workshops and open dialogues

✅ Advocating for the full and transparent activation of the Local Advisory Body

The work of governance doesn’t stop with a petition or a post. It’s ongoing, collective, and deeply transformative.

📣 Want to support this movement?

→ Read Marie’s full Project Report

→ Read their full CFA in Spanish or English

→ Follow Boana on Instagram

→ CALL FOR ACTION for a transparent and participatory water governance in El Chaltén

→ Donate to support their advocacy and education efforts