Abstract
When considering challenges related to the environment, and especially water, there has been a transition away from more technocratic approaches toward transdisciplinary research that includes the work of critical social science. As such, many frameworks have been developed to approach socionatural issues in a more holistic manner (see Binder et al.). In addition, lenses based in a variety of social theories have been applied, enhanced, and developed to broaden understandings of social-environmental relationships, power dynamics, access, gender roles, decision-making, etc. The following dissertation takes a contextual engineering approach to explore the hydrosocial challenges of smallholder farming in the Biobío River Basin in south-central Chile. This contextual engineering framework generally focuses on a deeper understanding of the context through interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, pluralistic, systemic, holistic, and otherwise critical social science approaches prior toward more meaningful and appropriate outcomes for communities. In order to contribute to this field, several novel approaches were developed and applied, including a Buddhist hydrosocial framework, a systems thinking method for eliciting mental models, a transecology analysis of water rights, and a dynamic approach to scenario planning of vulnerability for fruit crops. South-central Chile has a Mediterranean climate and historically produced cereal crops for the country and for export. As a result of trade agreements, cereal crops are no longer profitable, but the climate in the area has also evolved to allow for highly valuable fruit crops to be grown. Given that the majority of agriculture in Chile is smallholder farming and social dynamics have resulted in an aging farming population, there are many cultural, financial, and technological challenges to changing crops. Instead, with buying land in the country for weekends or retirement becoming more popular, selling off parcels of irrigated agricultural land for houses has become more lucrative. With export agriculture being the third highest contributor to the Chilean economy, it is important to consider this highly complex hydrosocial context in order to make decisions about the future of these communities and Chile as a whole. At the end of the day, this research has demonstrated that despite the hardships related to adaptation, the markets and local conditions for certain export fruits are trending upward and with some additional adaptation capacity improvements overcome the sensitivities and exposure trends over the next two decades.