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Special Section: Understanding political ecologies of wildlife conservation through non-human lives. Eds. S Banerjee, J. Margulies, P. Velasco Santos

Multispecies conservation geographies: Relocating the role of the Andean bear in socio-technical water systems of the Ecuadorian páramo

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  • Multispecies conservation geographies: Relocating the role of the Andean bear in socio-technical water systems of the Ecuadorian páramo

    Special Section: Understanding political ecologies of wildlife conservation through non-human lives. Eds. S Banerjee, J. Margulies, P. Velasco Santos

    Multispecies conservation geographies: Relocating the role of the Andean bear in socio-technical water systems of the Ecuadorian páramo

    Authors

Abstract

Multispecies ethnography explores human and non-human relationships, emphasising interconnectedness, cultural, socio-technical and political meanings, and the impact of multispecies interactions on society. Beyond the protection of emblematic species or ecosystems, which gain conservation status due to the multiple threats they face, there are other relational assemblages that are an index of animal political geographies. This article focuses on human/non-human relations within the Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador, which are intertwined with a technological system that provides drinking water to the city of Quito. Since this infrastructure is located in a protected area close to the Antisana volcano, we examine how the presence of the Andean bear (Tremarctus ornatus) is articulated with conservationist discourses of the páramo (i.e., as an ecosystem key to water production), which are often in conflict with human activities in the territories surrounding the protected area. Based on a historical analysis and an ethnographic approach to human-wildlife conflicts, we worked with officials of Quito's drinking water system, park rangers and community members of Pintag, attempting to contribute to a multispecies political ecology that considers the bear as a political subject. Using ethological and ethnographic methods, the aim is to make visible how the infrastructural systems of water and the Andean bear constitute a relational assemblage of the equatorial páramos.

Keywords: hydraulic infrastructure, multispecies assemblage, ethogram, territorial policies

How to Cite:

Villagómez-Reséndiz, R. & Dangles, O., (2026) “Multispecies conservation geographies: Relocating the role of the Andean bear in socio-technical water systems of the Ecuadorian páramo”, Journal of Political Ecology 33(1): 6437. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.6437

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BNP Paribas Foundation

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Published on
2026-02-14

Peer Reviewed