Traditional Knowledge in the Colombian Amazon: Tensions Between Indigenous Territorial Autonomy and Environmental Govern
The present study aims to analyze the role of traditional knowledge in territorial autonomy and environmental governance, as well as the level of interest of different indigenous and non-indigenous actors in the southern Colombian Amazon in applying tradi
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Traditional Knowledge in the Colombian Amazon: Tensions Between Indigenous Territorial Autonomy and Environmental Governance Pablo Emilio De La Cruz Nassar, Eduardo Bello Baltazar, Luis Eduardo Acosta Muñoz, Erin I. J. Estrada Lugo, Minerva Arce Ibarra, and Luis Enrique García Barrios Abstract The present study aims to analyze the role of traditional knowledge in territorial autonomy and environmental governance, as well as the level of interest of different indigenous and non-indigenous actors in the southern Colombian Amazon in applying traditional knowledge to public policy. Using the theoretical approaches of political ecology as well as a qualitative method, we describe a multidisciplinary project developed and implemented to incorporate knowledge systems of indigenous peoples of the Colombian Amazon into environmental policy. The results present an analysis of arguments by indigenous organizations, researchers, and government environmental agency administrators for and against using traditional knowledge to address the global ecological crisis. Through interviews and reports systematized by researchers and local collaborators within the project, we discuss conflicts that emerge when attempts are made to apply traditional knowledge in asymmetrical spaces of power. This includes responses by local residents to the global governance regime, which imposes policies regarding traditional knowledge in indigenous territories, and the possible repercussions of environmental policies on indigenous autonomy regimes in territories considered to be ancestral by indigenous peoples. We conclude that indigenous communities and organizations are more willing to apply traditional knowledge to public policy when the process is oriented toward strengthening their territorial and environmental autonomy than
P. E. De La Cruz Nassar (*) · E. Bello Baltazar · E. I. J. Estrada Lugo L. E. García-Barrios Department of Agriculture, Society and Environment, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico L. E. Acosta Muñoz Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas Sinchi, Leticia, Colombia M. Arce Ibarra Department of Systematic and Aquatic Ecology, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 M. Arce Ibarra et al. (eds.), Socio-Environmental Regimes and Local Visions, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49767-5_2
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when external actors attempt to use this knowledge to promote global regulatory regimes that are beyond the control of local actors. Keywords Traditional knowledge · Environmental governance regime · Territorial autonomy regime · Indigenous organizations · Government environmental agencies
2.1 Introduction Although there is no single definition of traditional knowledge, it is commonly related to beliefs, traditions, practices, institutions, and worldviews developed and sustained by indigenous and local communities in interaction with their biophysical environment (Berkes, 2009; Toledo & Barrer
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