Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Governance of the Colombian Amazon in a Post-Peace Accord Scenario A Social Ecological Study with Cacua People

Publication Type:
Thesis
Issue Date:
2022
Full metadata record
After 50+ years of armed conflict, the 2016 Peace Accord between the Colombian government and the FARC People’s Army opened a window for inclusive models of governance. In the frame of sustainability and conservation, Traditional Ecological Knowledge – the system of beliefs and practices Indigenous Peoples hold about their relationships with their surroundings – has significance for the Indigenous Peoples in the Colombian Amazon in navigating the shifts of social-ecological systems in a post-conflict scenario. The research finds that for Amazonian Indigenous Peoples, the Accord reinforces existing regulations and opens up new possibilities for recognition and rights protection. There is potential for models of governance that acknowledge the authority of Indigenous Peoples in their territories and accept the crucial role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in their planning and management. Such possibilities might be differential, prioritising the people most affected by the conflict or those with more developed organisational systems. Indigenous groups like the Cacua, in their condition of not being direct victims, might continue to be marginalised. For local social-ecological systems to better assimilate the changes that ensue from the Accord, the governance system requires cross-scale modifications that incorporate concerted planning processes and allow TEK a central place.
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