304 7. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms that the effective implementation of IWRM in Peru continues to face significant challenges at the territorial level, particularly in smaller high-Andean hydrographic units characterized by limited State presence, fragmented institutional action, and persistent information gaps. Although the SNGRH provides a comprehensive legal and institutional framework, its operationalization remains uneven across scales, with CRHCs often constrained by consultative mandates, limited technical and financial resources, and insufficient local representativeness. The findings also highlight that water-related conflicts in mining-influenced territories cannot be adequately addressed through bilateral arrangements or efficiency-oriented approaches focused solely on mining operations. Instead, such contexts require governance mechanisms that enable sustained multiactor interaction, shared learning processes, and collective decision-making grounded in territorial realities and hydrological dynamics. The METRHI provides empirical evidence of how a territorially grounded, bottom-up governance mechanism can complement existing basin-level institutions. METRHI contributes by operationalizing water governance at the scale of a smaller hydrographic unit, where actors are directly affected by water availability, quality, and competing uses. Its main contribution lies in adapting national regulatory and institutional guidelines to local conditions, strengthening representativeness through the inclusion of diverse water users, and creating a space for transparent dialogue, coordination, and consensus-building under the stewardship of the ALA. As an emerging process, METRHI demonstrates the potential to enhance trust among stakeholders, improve access to hydrological information, and support collaborative responses to water-related challenges in mining-affected territories. 8. REFERENCES Andersson, K., & Ostrom, E. (2008). Analyzing decentralized resource regimes from a polycentric perspective. Policy Sciences, 41(1), 71–93. Castro-Salvador, S. (2023). (Dé)centralisation et territoires de l’eau : Enjeux, échelles et acteurs. Le cas des bassins-versants de Lima et Piura au Pérou [Doctoral dissertation, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne]. Disponible en: https://theses.fr/2023PA01H037 González-Chavarría, A. (2014). Análisis institucional multiagente: el problema de estructuración y agencia en la explicación de la emergencia de estructuras de gobernanza. Revista de Estudios Sociales, (49), 190–204. Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI). (2026). Perú: población total proyectada al 30 de junio de cada año, según departamento, provincia y distrito (2018–2026). Disponible en: https://www.gob.pe/institucion/inei/informes-publicaciones/6894980-peru-
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