Grassroots scalar politics in the Peruvian Andes: Mobilizing allies to defend community waters in the upper Pampas watershed

Water is and has always been the “life stream” of rural livelihoods in Andean communities. Access to water has for centuries been guaranteed through various forms of collective action and autonomous governance structures (Boelens, 2015). Until now, collective action has assured individual water access and is mostly based on local, inter- and intra-community water rights systems that shape, and are shaped by, water flows and infrastructure, local water-related practices, authorities and territory, and particular world views on how societies relate to water and nature (see Beccar et al., 2002; Hoogesteger et al., 2016).