The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
Since the year 2000, negotiations have been ongoing between the Escuela de Biología
and members of the community councils to elaborate a proposal for the improvement
of the education situation. 89 As mentioned before, the formal education system has
been widely perceived as a cultural imposition. To remedy this situation, it has been
considered to incorporate indigenous knowledge into the school curricula in order to
enhance principles of informal education. Combined with this plan is the idea to reevaluate
indigenous concepts of the use of biodiversity. The addition of local knowledge
about ecosystems and their elements, soils, climate, crops, plants and animals,
etc. into formal schooling is a new element in an integrative conservation strategy. As
often proposed by informants, such an approach is intended to encounter the erosion
of knowledge as an emanation of the indigenous cosmovision by putting in place
mechanisms for its revitalisation. Its incorporation into the formal education system
has been considered as an initial step to address local concerns and may serve as a significant
tool for conserving natural and cultural values. In discussions on this topic,
farmers suggested that school schedules should be adapted to the seasonal nature of
local production activities. Recognising the value of both knowledge and associated
beliefs, a possible route involves a re-learning of traditional practices that have been
lost, such as soil conservation methods, terracing techniques, production of organic
fertiliser and pesticides, intercropping with nitrogen-fixing plants or raising plants in
home gardens. Integrating traditional and scientific information for the design of educational
components of conservation strategies could make important contributions
to resolving the conflicts between conservationist interests and the needs of local residents.
In the long term, this approach may contribute to the effectiveness of conservation
by improving the information base and by facilitating the design of appropriate
measures compatible with local use and tradition. At the same time it may re-value the
cultural concepts of the Q'eqchi' and reduce the degree of cultural subordination.
Although the scientists have tried to facilitate the process of communication
within and between the communities and the park agents, there is not much they can
do on the issue of land entitlement. The lack of secure land tenure illustrates that environmental
conflicts at the local level often do not only reflect different values and
senses of place but are linked to conflicts of interest that originate far beyond park
limits and require consideration of much larger political and legal issues. A fundamental
prerequisite in order to provide long term security for local conservation efforts in
the area is to legalise communal resource-use rights, which would also entail the reaffirmation
of cultural identity. Although supporting and negotiating local property
rights is a complex political and legal process, land security is an issue of major concern
for the local population. But apart from this issue, the mediating role of the
group of scientists could ease the difficulties in achieving communication and trust between
the urban-based park authorities and the local population as basic prerequisite
to further constructive conflict resolution. Julio Morales, who had initiated the study
89 To date the biologists have also provided support in terms of establishing a public library and via
the participation of students as guest teachers at the school in St. Lucía.