The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
to identify and analyse the causes and effects of environmental degradation in the Sierra
Nevada and to develop solutions.
As a result of this participatory process, the FPSN produced a Sustainable Development Plan
for the Sierra Nevada (SDP), which was published with the endorsement of the National
Planning Department, Ministry of Environment, Presidential Advisor for the Atlantic Coast,
and three Governors of the region. The document presents a description of the physical and
social characteristics and history of the region, the methodology used to prepare the strategy,
the diagnosis carried out by stakeholders, and finally the plan itself.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the highest coastal mountain in the world, reaching
5,775m elevation in a direct slope from the sea level. It is rich in biological and cultural
diversity and critical to the region’s water supply. It has been designated a Biosphere Reserve
covering 17,000km 2 , and contains two national parks and two indigenous reservations. Several
indigenous groups, including the Kankuamos, the Wiwa, the Arhuacos and the Kogi inhabit the
area (the last functioning pre-Colombian civilization), for whom the Sierra Nevada is a sacred
mountain: “the heart of the world.” For the tribal communities living here, the forests are vital,
providing wildlife habitat and serving as sanctuaries for worship and religious cere monies. The
resources in the forests also provide shelter, fuel, clothing, household utensils, medicines, food
and materials for their artistic expression.
The indigenous peoples living in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta believe that all native
food plants have their “fathers” and “mothers” and that crop fertility has to be insured by
offerings to these spiritual beings. Soil types such as clays, humus, etc. are ritually named, as
are the categories of rains, winds and lagoons, along with the cardinal points to which they are
associated. These offerings are real evidence of indigenous knowledge, as ritual payment for
the use of a particular species of tree to build a bridge consists of clearing and feeding sacred
food to saplings of the same species dispersed in the forest, favouring their survival (Rodríguez,
2003).
The intimate contact that these indigenous people have with natural phenomena gives them a
clear sense of cycles that they have to maintain as environmental stewards. As a result, they
have developed a unique, close connection with the mountain landscape in which they live, and
have established distinct systems of knowledge. Innovation and practices relating to the uses
and management of biological diversity on these lands and environments are the result of a
complex system of offerings (pagamentos) as tributes in which each person of the community
acts as steward of a sacred territory.
The national policy for the Sierra Nevada began with the declaration of a Forestry Reserve in
1959. In 1964 the government of Colombia declared part of the Sierra Nevada as a national
park. In 1974 and 1982, the government declared two indigenous reservations that presently
overlap the national park, returning part of the original territories to management by the
traditional communities inhabiting the area. These policies have had little effect on the
conservation of the Sierra Nevada, which has remained a cultural, working landscape, more in
keeping with Category V characteristics; while colonization pressures continue to affect its
most fragile biomes it is necessary for the government to take advice from indigenous people,
in order to protect the officially declared National Park.
However, challenges remain related to public attitudes toward indigenous knowledge and
the erosion of traditional cultures in the region. As the indigenous people of this region are
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