Lunchtime Colloquium: Governing Resources in Chile

Our colleague Dr. Johanna Höhl presented her research on resource governance at our department’s Lunchtime Colloquium! When resources are scarce, their access, distribution and use need to be negotiated. The central question is: Who gets what, how much and what for?

The governance framework helps unpack how diverse state, private, and civil society actors – with distinct interests and rules – interact and negotiate resource access. It highlights the need for context-specific, multi-scalar coordination to understand and address complex resource challenges.

Johanna illustrated this with two case studies she conducted in Chile:

Case 1: Water (in-)securities in Panguipulli

Despite being a water-rich region in southern Chile, Panguipulli faces scarcity due to uneven access to infrastructure and individual decisions on water use.

• Indigenous communities depend on water for agriculture and pastoralism, while booming tourism adds pressure on outdated water systems.
• Water access is shaped less by formal rights and more by who fills their swimming pool first – or who lives downhill.

Case 2: Hydropower and the Ralco Dam in the Bio Bio Region

This hydroelectric project reveals how top-down and state-led decisions at national and regional scales impact resource use and access at the local level.

• Even after Chile’s return to democracy, top-down regulatory changes fell short of addressing deep-rooted power asymmetries.
• The voices of Indigenous communities resisting displacement show that “governance” also means grappling with competing visions of land, development, and justice.

Johanna’s talk was also an opportunity to introduce our new GIST-Hub project to our colleagues in the department.

Read more about the GIST-Hub here