River basin planning in Bolivia is a relatively new endeavor that is primed for innovation and learning. One important learning opportunity relates to connecting watershed planning to processes within other planning units (e.g., municipalities) that have water management implications. A second opportunity relates to integrating watershed management, with a focus on land-based interventions, and water resources management, with a focus on the use and control of surface and groundwater resources. Bolivia’s River Basin Policy and its primary planning instrument, the River Basin Master Plan (PDC in Spanish), provide the relevant innovation and learning context. Official guidance related to PDC development lacks explicit instructions related to the use of analytical tools, the definition of spatially and temporally dis-aggregated indicators to evaluate specific watershed and water management interventions, and a description of the exact way stakeholders engage in the evaluation process. This paper describes an effort to adapt the tenets of a novel planning support practice, Robust Decision Support (RDS), to the official guidelines of PDC development. The work enabled stakeholders to discern positive and negative interactions among water management interventions related to overall system performance, hydrologic risk management, and ecosystem functions; use indicators across varying spatial and temporal reference frames; and identify management strategies to improve outcomes and mitigate cross-regional or inter-sectorial conflicts.

This discussion brief aims to provide insights into ways that individual researchers can aim to shift rather than reinforce unequal power relations in climate and environment research that disadvantage marginalized communities and the Global South. It seeks to launch wider discussions and actions on the subject to rectify colonial-era legacies that continue to affect power dynamics, detrimentally skewing research and its uptake.

Home to the headwaters and the largest portion of South American watersheds and the upper catchments of large Amazon tributaries, the Cerrado biome plays a vital role in Brazil’s surface and groundwater availability. Agribusiness expands at the cost of Cerrado’s biodiversity, leading to ever-increasing deforestation rates that favour a ‘water scarcity’ narrative despite the biome’s ‘water abundance’ potential. Water-related conservation efforts, such as the Water Producer Programme, are underway to align ecosystem services maintenance with sustainable agricultural practices in the Cerrado biome.