Call for Action | Content
The call for action for a transparent and participatory water governance was directed towards local institutions of El Chaltén and provincial institutions of the Santa Cruz Province, mainly Los Glaciares National Park, the Secretary of Environment of Santa Cruz and the municipality of El Chaltén.
The first three aspects of the CFA are general aspects that set the framework, starting from the broader objective (a water governance system that can be identified, with a multi-year road map, planned activities and clear conservation objectives), to urgent governance matters (governance arrangements to deal with the sanitation crisis and the conformation of the local advisory body):
- The creation of a water governance system focused on clear conservation objectives.
- The recognition of the environmental emergency state and creation of an emergency committee to ensure institutional coordination and participation for the sanitation crisis
- The conformation of the Local Advisory Body
Then, the three other points were focused on holistic and inclusive water management concepts:
- The integration of community voices, especially women and youth
- The integration of ecocentric perspectives, based on recent judgments
- The integration of a source-to-sea approach
The publication of the call for action was accompanied by a petition, and we created a series of 9 publications to explain its content. The CFA was officially launched on 01/21 on Boana’s instagram and published on our website in spanish and english.
Call for Action | Writing
The writing process and the advocacy statements evolved over the months. During the first months, I (Marie) was working alone on it, to define the principal , but also because it was perceived as a complicated and political task for Boana’s local volunteers. They agreed to the cause but did not feel comfortable engaging with this type of concept and engaging in redaction. By december, Eva joined me to craft the advocacy statements and ensure the CFA was well aligned with our programs, as we needed them to be rooted in our evolving context, more specifically the legal action for the water treatment case and the conformation of the local advisory body, which is a governance mechanism present in the national park’s management plan.
Call for Action | Participation of Locals
On the 11th of December, we organized a collaborative workshop focused on (1) connecting with personal environmental interests and fostering creative dialogue on environmental issues (2) the presentation of the objectives of the Call for Action.
The workshop was an opportunity to connect with other people from town that were attracted by the creative dialogue aspect. We formed a whatsapp group with 14 people for the event, which is still constituted and forms a potential communication channel.
During the presentation of the objectives of the call for action, we generated a participatory dynamic that was really interesting. There we also confirmed the lack of feeling of legitimacy to manage some water management concepts, which is something we need to keep working on. The lack of feeling of legitimacy is often coupled with the perceptions that institutions are not at reach, generating a difficult context to overcome. But, engaging with positive and holistic concepts such as eco-centric rights or source-to-sea approach has been a factor of motivation, as it opens a new imaginary. Therefore, we identify that conventional approaches and needs (like governance) that are closely linked to institutions are perceived as complex and not entirely feasible, but that people are interested in other concepts. My guess is that there is an opportunity to work on long-standing governance issues if we reframe them with attractive concepts.
Many participants learned about the local advisory committee and what it means in the context of the management plan, and in general, they learnt about governance as a concept but also as a practice. Then they brainstormed on how the community could interact with different stakeholders to seek support, mainly international organizations, wondering how UNESCO could help or not.
Analysis | Reception of CFA
The Call for Action (CFA) was both practical and theoretical, introducing concepts like the source-to-sea and ecocentric principles, while also addressing the necessary governance mechanisms for the short and medium term.
The CFA targeted institutions that should be familiar with these concepts and governance structures, but it also served as an educational tool for the community. From this perspective, it introduced key governance ideas that are often overlooked in traditional environmental conservation projects, and it was rooted in political ecology, social sciences, and activism.
This dual purpose made the process both exciting and challenging. Explaining and educating about complex concepts like governance, especially technical governance, while simultaneously mobilizing action was a delicate balance. It was particularly important at the local level, where the community needed to understand and feel a sense of legitimacy regarding these concepts and actions in order to become politically engaged. It was essential, as participation in environmental matters is really fluctuant, as it usually entirely depends on volunteering activities. However, the ongoing issues, such as those surrounding the water treatment plant, and gradual changes, have made the community more receptive to new ideas, processes, projects, and political actions.
Our main successful interaction was with the new representative of Los Glaciares National Park, Horacio Peloso. The call for action was almost an introduction with him. We are proud to have been able to take a clear stand on these issues and indicate that we were working on this and that water management is not an option but a duty. Marie interacted with him through whatsapp, offering collaboration for the Local Advisory Body conformation, with a pro-active and firm behaviour. It is interesting to note that young women are not really expected to engage this way, so it’s another aspect that needs to be taken into account in the strategy. By the beginning of March he agreed to respond to questions and started moving towards us, but literally one week after this the National Administration started to open unauthorized trails in the national park, generating a new conflict in El Chalten. Our ongoing conversations with him were shifted uniquely towards the confirmation of the local advisory body, one of the advocacy statements of the CFA.
The CFA represented a significant mobilization precedent for this World Heritage Site, marking the first direct political demand for participation and institutional coordination. It included a petition signed by 749 individuals, which was primarily directed toward governmental organizations, including the Los Glaciares National Park administration, the Secretary of Environment of the province, and the municipality. The context was challenging, given the historical tendency of these institutions to exclude public participation. For example, the World Heritage Committee had recommended reopening the local advisory body and expanding it to include El Chaltén in 2014, but nearly a decade later, this recommendation had still not been implemented. At the beginning of April, some organizations of El Calafate received a convocation letter for the new local advisory body, and we still do not know if it will be implemented in El Chalten and how. |
The campaign successfully highlighted this critical issue, bringing it to the forefront of local conversations. It was the only campaign led by an NGO this summer, highlighting the necessity to keep on working on shared political demands for environmental management. Following the CFA, a local woodworker and occasional collaborator with Boana, Maile Suarez, took the initiative to form a WhatsApp group with representatives from local organizations (such as the El Chaltén Andean Club, the Mountain Guides Association, other NGOs like Amigos del Parque and Fundación Anfibia, the hockey club, the local library, etc.) to create a collaborative agenda and foster unity. We have continued to collaborate on this process, with Maile Suarez, Paula from the Mountain Guides Association, and Marie regularly following up on the issue, sharing updates, mobilizing new groups, and pushing for collective action toward a shared objective.
Meanwhile, by mid-March 2025, the National Park administration began illegally removing trees within the protected area, exacerbating conflicts and further highlighting the urgent need for consultative and participatory governance arrangements. This action became a pivotal moment, deeply affecting both the community and the newly appointed National Park administration, who did not anticipate such resistance.
We engaged in a new emergency environmental lawsuit, and the judge ordered the National Administration to stop logging. It seems like environmental justice actions are being the most adequate canal for now.
Analysis | Successes and Challenges
- The introduction of a key concept : Governance
Introducing governance was a key success. After the water treatment contamination case, it was necessary to speak about institutions and participation for water management.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to collaborate on this topic with other NGOs, international institutions etc. The CFA was a first introduction where we could keep learning about mobilizing in El Chalten and in social media. But we need to keep the conversation going and craft a strategy based on these learnings.
- The consolidation of political demands linked with water management
It is crucial to consolidate actions that mix social science with environmental science, protected area planning with activism, education with mobilization etc. Introducing institutional aspects of water management is key, as most of water projects, legal frameworks, contamination remediation etc. are closely linked to classical political and institutional frameworks. Therefore, it is important to work on boring or technical concepts, or political practices that can be perceived as useless because of how institutions have been managing themselves for the last 20 years.
It is necessary to be disruptive and we need to keep on thinking about actions repertoire that combine disruptive, creative and the renewal of imaginaries. We also need to focus on attractive communication.
- Reaching institutions through social media channels
The following interaction with institutions lacked, as it would have been useful to engage with physical encounters in Rio Gallegos or Calafate, where the head of the Secretary of Environment and the National Park are located. Even if we did not have any formal meeting, it would have been interesting to just show up and create content based on this.
In general, the type of mobilization, coordination work etc. required by such an initiative is pretty huge, as many activities have to be undertaken (communication, institutional contacts, mobilization of actors that have other priorities etc.) Plus, another important aspect is that other local NGOs can not afford to engage in direct activism and political demands for water governance.
- Educate and mobilize at the same time
It was a predictable yet overlooked aspect. It has been really interesting to navigate this one. The conclusion is that it’s necessary to work on communication and content about governance, water management etc, as political demands for water management from the community to the institutions partly depend on what is perceived as doable, feasible, desirable, and normal for citizens. Working on this “normal” or “new normal” is crucial, as well as attractive communication around key political ecology concepts. Somehow, we have to make it attractive to: (1) learn about boring concepts that are crucial to engage in transformative processes (2) and interact with institutions that are well known not to share some common values.
Analysis | Key Learnings for the Future
- Communicate about key concepts before mobilizing or generate more workshops and content while mobilizing to explain why these aspects are crucial.
- Combine classic interactions with institutions that we can not escape from with new promising concepts that make people connect with imagination and possibilities, like ecocentric rights and source-to-sea.
- Possibility to engage with institutions through policy briefs, opportunity notes, advocacy statements, reports from experts etc. from a technical point of view + engage with educational projects with the community about political and governance concepts.
- Communication and mobilization structure before and after the publication of the CFA – craft better content that is shared before and after and plan an entire campaign after the release of the CFA that goes beyond the explanation posts, interactions through whatsapp etc.
