PUCV research project concludes formal phase on climate pluriverses

The ANID Anillos project, titled ‘Pluriversos climáticos: una perspectiva descolonial de las geohumanidades para el diseño de territorios alternativos’, has completed its formal three-year research phase. Conducted in the Aconcagua and Bío Bío basins, the interdisciplinary initiative integrated geography, psychology, architecture, social work, and the arts to co-create community-based solutions to the environmental crisis.

Project director Pablo Mansilla, an academic at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV), stated that the formal conclusion marks a transition rather than an end to field work. The project aims to strengthen a collaborative network involving socio-environmental organizations in Valparaíso and Bío Bío, alongside researchers from Latin America, the United States, and Europe.

The study was shaped by the social unrest of 2019, the pandemic, and the megadrought, which Mansilla noted have accelerated the fracture between society and nature. The project also warns against ‘green colonialism,’ suggesting that energy transition narratives risk deepening extractive frontiers in local territories.