Indigenous Knowledges and the Sustainable Development Agenda by Anders Breidlid Roy Krøvel

Author:Anders Breidlid, Roy Krøvel [Anders Breidlid, Roy Krøvel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781000061772
Goodreads: 49760670
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

The significance of indigenous ecological knowledge on forest fauna

Indigenous ecological knowledge and the different ways in which indigenous people perceive and relate to their territory are the basis for indigenous cosmovision and culture (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1976). In the Amazon, animals are an integral part in indigenous cosmovision and subsistence hunting and fishing are a major component of local livelihoods and important cultural tradition, deeply connected to the integrity and management of the territory (van der Hammen 1992; Rodríguez and Van der Hammen 2003). Traditionally, indigenous communities have since time immemorial used a vast range of forest products and animals. The number of species that are consumed varies and depends on the particular cultural preferences of the ethnic groups and taboos. Certain species are recognized as fit for human consumption only during specific times of the year based on intricate ecological calendars and linked to the availability of forest fruits consumed by these. Likewise, hunting techniques vary and were adapted to the circumstances and ecological conditions, the time of the year and the species sought after. Local restrictions regarding meat also play an important role, for instance the restrictions in the preparation and consumption of certain species for pregnant and breast-feeding women (Bonilla Riveros 2014).

From a legal perspective, forest fauna has no human owner, and people cannot claim ownership over faunal resources. The absence of private ownership over an important material but also spiritual resource is, however, not a tragedy of the commons as it might be in other contexts where private ownership is considered key for effective natural resource governance.

In the cosmovision of the Upichía, it is first and foremost the existence of the forest and its flora what provides the basis of animal and people’s existence. It is then the knowledge about the forest, the basis for all live, that moves the world and gives rise to any form of territorial management. This is reflected in the recognition of supranatural laws that are in place to manage the territory, laws that were not invented by people but originate in the very beginning of life. According to these laws, the forest, the trees and animals have owners with which one has to establish a relationship according to the law of origin (Fausto 2012; Echeverri 2016).

Traditional management based on other forms of ownership that is spiritual, i.e., the notion of the masters of the animals or owners of the game (dueños) is deeply entangled in the local cosmovision where every species is said to have a master or owner, who releases these slowly for hunting by humans. In that sense, the notion of extinction that is often used in the conservation context is not understood by people for whom animals are also ‘people’ and where hunting and the presence and availability of animals depend on the animals’ owners (dueños) who release them after negotiation with the shaman. In the same context, the word management can also be misinterpreted, since it is the dueños who take care of the animals and what happens in the forest (Cabrera 2012).

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