The Conceptions of Environment seen by Andean Indigenous Farmers and their Relationship to the Concept of Ecosystem Biodiversity.
by Sébastien Boillat

Abstract

The Tunari National Park (TNP) is located in a high Andean area of central Bolivia. It is subject to a conflict between the legislation of the park, which follows a scientific conservationist approach, restricting the use of natural resources in an unilateral way, and the local indigenous farmer communities, who have lived in the park area based on a subsistence economy for centuries and rejected the legislation.

Since 1985, the AGRUCO program (Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba) has been developing a platform for transdisciplinary research-action between University and indigenous Andean communities. AGRUCO outlined the need to respond to the growing concerns of indigenous communities with regard to the extension of protected areas, by opening an intercultural dialogue between different conceptions of the environment. Therefore, a transdisciplinary study is needed to find pathways on how to elaborate and implement more viable park concepts and corresponding regulations to integrate both the legitimate interests of the local inhabitants as well as those related to conserving nature.

The objective of this study is to understand the conceptions of indigenous Andean farmers on their environment, to compare it with the ecosystem biodiversity concept, and to discuss the potentialities and limitations of both visions for sustainable biodiversity management.

The research methodology will be based on the principles of Sustainable Development Appraisal (SDA), which combines indigenous knowledge with classical scientific methods from an external point of view (Hurni & Ludi, 2000). In the participatory part, local knowledge will be taken into account not only as an information source, but will also be integrated in the research process as such, allowing indigenous farmers to realize planning and interpretation tasks. The external view-based part will carry out vegetation cover studies and ecological mapping using GIS technology.

The expected results from this study are (1) a detailed assessment of indigenous conceptions on the environment and its components understood as “living space”, in three Andean communities of the TNP, (2) a comparison between indigenous and scientific conceptions on the environment realizing an “intercultural guidebook on environmental space interpretations”, (3) a GIS-supported double ecosystem biodiversity assessment based on both indigenous and scientific criteria, and (4) recommendations and strategic pathways to elaborate new protected area concepts that integrate both indigenous and biodiversity conservation interests.

These results will contribute to solve conflicts linked to conservation policies. They will help the indigenous communities to revaluate their knowledge and enter into a thinking process about biodiversity in a more general perspective. They will also demonstrate the roles and competences of the indigenous communities in natural resources and biodiversity management, and therefore help them to claim for their rights against inadequate, externally defined biodiversity conservation policies.

The research will be carried out at AGRUCO, and supervised by the NCCR North-South program (IP1 and IP2), jointly with two Bolivian PhD theses (Dora Ponce / IP8, and Elvira Serrano / IP1) and a PAMS (Capacity Building Program in Social Control and Governance for Sustainable Biodiversity Management). Therefore, the project will also strengthen international collaboration between universities of Berne and Cochabamba.

 

Addresses

South Partner

Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO)
Av. Petrolera km 4 1/2 (Fac. Agronomía).
Casilla 3392
Cochabamba
BOLIVIA
Phone/Fax: +591 4 4252601 / 4252602
Email: agruco@pino.cbb.entelnet.bo
Website: www.agruco.org

 

North Partner

Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)
Steigerhubelstrasse 3
3008 Berne
Switzerland
Phone: +41 31 631 88 22
Fax: +41 31 631 85 44
Email: cde@giub.unibe.ch
Website: www.cde.unibe.ch