Abstract

Resumen During the 20th century, numerous rivers were pumped, channeled, stratified, dammed, and diverted. Diverse water courses and bodies (rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, and aquifers) were transformed for agricultural irrigation and energy purposes, supplying urban areas or simply favoring economic interests. These transformations were driven by a mentality inherited from modernity that has led to understanding and exploiting rivers as mere water channels or fuel for hydroelectric power plants. This one-dimensional mentality continues to promote the conversion of rivers into paved channels and/or their clogging by constructing large hydroelectric dams worldwide. In this article, I use the conceptual framework of the “3Hs” (Habits, Habitats, co-in-Habitants) of my biocultural ethics to criticize the problematic modern habit of indiscriminately channeling water courses, which leads to the proliferation of homogeneous habitats (crossed by captive water courses) that entail the suffering or elimination of myriads of co-inhabitants. These co-inhabitants include both the exuberant biological diversity that inhabits rivers (freshwater fish, insects, plants, algae, and bacteria) and the rich cultural diversity of human communities that co-inhabit watersheds. In addition, the “3Hs” model of my biocultural ethics can guide us to protect and/or regenerate connections between human societies and rivers, transforming not only biophysical habitats but also our symbolic and material culture. I explore how the perspective of my biocultural ethics supports and is supported by: (i) the philosophical revaluation of the concept of meander developed by environmental thinker Irene Klaver; (ii) innovative scientific methodologies to study river biota proposed by freshwater ecologist Tamara Contador; (iii) the recent legal attribution of biocultural rights to rivers in Colombia, New Zealand, and India; and (iv) expressions of indigenous poets and other artists that communicate deep river-human interconnections. On the one hand, adopting my proposed biocultural ethics requires us to abandon a one-dimensional mentality to embrace ancient and new forms of systemic, contextual, complex, and dynamic thinking to understand and value rivers. On the other, we must cultivate habits of care for riparian habitats where we co-inhabit with various co-inhabitants (humans and other-than-humans), seeking their well-being. Thus, an ethic of co-inhabitation emerges that guides us to value and defend the biocultural conservation of rivers.