Navigating Cultural Currents: The Sixaola River Basin Story

MEET THE SIXAOLA RIVER BASIN. The Sixaola River between Panama and Costa Rica is considered by the people as a “living space” where hundreds of people travel from one side to the other, to live, trade and communicate with one another every day. Thus, it is an area that requires comprehensive and joint efforts, supporting active and constructive participation of the different international, national, and local governmental institutions, civil society, indigenous community members and the private sector of both river nations in order to achieve enhanced levels of sustainable water management, and human development for the Sixaola Basin. Presenting a mini–movie/trailer of the people of the Sixaola Basin—this is their story. The hope is creating a platform of discussion on what might be ‘working’ in shared waters, and what can be improved upon in order to enhance water security across this basin, and the many global communities working on similar efforts for the people and environment that are dependent upon their waters, to live.

Undercurrent

WHAT DOES WATER MEAN TO YOU?Water resides in the region of BC, Canada. Everybody wants and needs Water. Though some people complain of her for being too ever–present in the weather across the “Rainy City” of Vancouver, and in the rainforests, while others long for her, dismayed by her continued absence.What drives these different connections and relations toWater?This film explores people’s connections and relations to water in the greater Vancouver region.The making of “Undercurrents,” attempts to shine a lens on our relatedness to water beyond the more apparent tangible connections such as the quantity and quality of water, but to offer reflections of the socioeconomics, politics, and the equitability of access surrounding water, individuals, community, and a sense of belonging. With increasing variability in rainfall, flooding and drought, water insecurity, both regionally and globally demands critical attention. As such, comprehensive and multi–dimensional understandings of our waters can open space toward developing more focused, equitable and sustainable planning measures. Thus, the directed goal for this project is to stimulate conversations about our relationship with our water, with the hope to encourage new learnings and reflections about how we relate to one another on this ever–changing blue planet.