Let's save the lomas! : exploring the barriers and opportunities for the collective action at Lomas de Pamplona in Lima, Peru

Abstract: Urban populations are growing rapidly with several environmental and social effects in the process. At a governance level, resources go from being regulated by federal and state institutions into being considered urban areas governed by the local government. Nevertheless, this can neglect the enforcement of existing laws for many reasons that deteriorate urban resources due to a rivalry in the types of usage. As a result, local groups of citizens transform urban resources into shared resources to enforce laws with support from the local government and collectively manage it to guarantee the fulfillment of their current and future needs. This thesis explores the case of Lomas de Pamplona (LP), a social-ecological system (SES) in the Nueva Rinconada (NR) sector, part of San Juan de Miraflores (SJM) district within Metropolitan Lima. A group composed by SJM citizens, called the LP collective, has arisen to protect this unique ecosystem from urban sprawl in the form of encroachment and land trafficking. Through interviews and literature review, first, second and third-tier variables from the SES framework were selected to understand how the collective manages LP, the social and ecological outcomes, and how to overcome these challenges from a SES perspective through urban commons theory. The findings indicate the collective has a close collaboration with SJM authorities as well as environmental and media networks that enable reaching governmental and civic actors in different levels. Likewise, LP collective has a weak social network established by Flor de Amancaes, one of the 144 slums within the NR sector. This weakness comes about due to conflicts that come from clashes of interest, lack of knowledge about the SES, absence of acknowledgment about LP importance to slums’ livelihood and a weak social capital among direct users. Therefore, the ecological conditions have remained the same from slums’ daily activities. Yet, the informal monitoring activities and the network with the SJM municipality have put land trafficking and encroachment attempts that represent the main human pressure to the ecosystem on pause. According to the urban commons theory, the SJM municipality needs to be more supportive to integrate other slums into the collective action promoted by the LP collective. Social capital, knowledge of LP and acknowledgment of the importance of LP in slums’ livelihood are essential to develop a stronger social network that could decrease the conflicts in the area.