Traditional Landscape Appropriation of Afro-Descendants and Collective Titling in the Colombian Pacific Region: Lessons for Transformative Change

Abstract

AbstractThe Colombian Pacific region is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, but several anthropic pressures threaten its ecosystems and the ethnic groups who live there. Since the colonial era, the region has experienced two different key strategies of landscape appropriation: (1) diversification of activities in the landscape; and (2) specialisation focusing on a few landscape products. These two strategies fall at opposite ends of a modified continuum over time, including a range of intermediate situations that combine elements of the diversified and specialised strategies. The first strategy is characteristic of Afro-descendant communities, based on harmony with nature and favoring human well-being, while providing multiple ecosystem services and cultural or spiritual values.In this context, this chapter reviews the relationship of Afro-descendants with their environment in the Colombian Pacific region, taking as an example the San Marcos locality. Through interviews with key informants and participant observation, we investigate the productive and extractive practices in San Marcos. Results show that the appropriation strategy combines different sources of income. This denotes a great local ecological knowledge geared to maintenance of biodiversity. Despite Law 70 (1993) stipulating Afro-descendant communities to have guaranteed autonomy and the right to collectively manage their ancestral lands, this socio-ecological production landscape is endangered due to pressures from the dominant society towards conversion to a specialised strategy. Finally, we also analyse “transformative change” in the context of governance of San Marcos. Such change could guide a profound transformation in conservation strategies based on a fundamental reorientation of human values.