The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
“focal points” have been defined as being nodal conservation areas that have already been
established, as well as other bio-culturally rich areas in need of conservation. The Ruta Sagrada
del Cóndor’s focal points will include, among others:
(a) Micro-centres of crop origin and diversity (e.g., Vavilov centres);
(b) Areas of high biological diversity (including biodiversity “hot spots,” and critical and
vulnerable areas);
(c) Outstanding mountain ecosystems (including high-mountain wetlands, native forests,
and grasslands;
(d) Cultural areas (including sacred sites, archaeological centres, World Heritage Sites and
other cultural landmarks e.g., places where there is a strong craft tradition, such as
pottery and weaving); and
(e) Existing protected areas (including national parks, nature reserves, biosphere reserves).
Some of the focal points have already been established by virtue of being part of the newly
created regional network of Ethnobotanical Sister Gardens, which was endorsed by the
International Society of Ethnobiology during the VII International Congress of Ethnobiology
in 2000. An Ethnobotanical Garden is a specialized botanical collection that allows traditional
knowledge and ancestral practices to be maintained in the growing of plants used with
medicinal, economical or cultural purposes. Most of the varieties selected as domesticated
plants in the Andes have indeed developed as heirloom plants.
The Ruta Sagrada del Cóndor-Wiracocha will be implemented and managed by local
communities themselves. Both the specific focal points and the larger protected landscapes
making up the route will be based on the traditions and knowledge of the native peoples as well
as experience from the network of Ethnobotanical Sister Gardens, the sister gardens being
demonstration sites for cultural landscape conservation exercises. As some of the focal points
of the route, the ethno-botanical gardens will offer examples of different conservation ap -
proaches and management goals along the route. Linkages with the already established focal
points will be made in collaboration with conservation authorities in each country and
arrangements will include strategies to ensure effective participation of local people in the
management of such areas (Sarmiento et al., 2000). The project will incorporate the goals of
equity and poverty reduction of the indigenous peoples along the route. An ecotourism and
indigenous tourism plan will be developed to provide economic incentives for conservation,
especially by adding value to local biodiversity and landscape features.
In the current debate, indigenous and traditional people have an important locus in the
political agenda of sustainable development scenarios in Latin America. Beltrán (2000)
analyses the relationship between indigenous and traditional peoples and protected areas,
presenting the conflict between the goals of nature conservation and the needs and wants of the
human population that depends on it, living within or around the protected area. The case
studies that follow demonstrate conservation of natural and cultural heritage in three distinct
settings, whose characteristics exemplify the diversity of communities and landscapes in the
Andean region.
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