Delaying order: the uncertainties of perpetually planning the Guayuriba river-basin

Keywords: river-basin planning, delay, resource extraction, uncertainty, Colombia
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews in the Guayuriba River basin of the Eastern Foothills of Colombia, I discuss the temporality of planning, the rituals of expertise and public participation, and the accrual of uncertainties related to flooding, water quality, and water use and availability. Perpetually planning the Guayuriba River basin for nearly two decades has allowed mining companies to continue extracting gravel, amidst uncertain flooding dynamics; oil companies to continue discharging production waters, despite uncertain water quality; and palm oil plantations to continue large-scale irrigation, notwithstanding uncertainties in water use and availability. Uncertainties have been perpetuated, accumulated, obscured, and met with a lack of will throughout the continual revision and adjustment of the river-basin planning document. While peoples and natures are made to wait, the delaying of order has in fact ordered the territory, through a tacit authorization of increased resource extraction despite concerns of environmental degradation.