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Defending our
territory: the
biocultural community
protocol of Alto San
Juan, Colombia
11
by TATIANA LÓPEZ PIEDRAHITA and CARLOS HEILER MOSQUERA
Introduction
The biocultural community protocol (BCP)
of the collective territory of Alto San Juan
was developed to strengthen the communities’ collective rights and to formally
recognise the cultural practices which
contribute to maintaining biodiversity in
the region. The territory is an historic and
ancestral settlement of Afro-Colombian
communities who practice traditional
production practices for collective use. The
protocol reflects the communities’ holistic
concept of territory and their relationship
with natural resources. It documents the
environmental issues that the community
perceives to be of importance.
The collective territory covers an area
of 54,517ha and 4,625m2, and is located in
the municipalities of Tado and Rio Iró in
the Choco bioregion of Colombia. It is
home to 30 communities who have their
own culture, a shared history and their own
traditions and customs which demonstrate
and maintain an identity that distinguishes
them from other ethnic groups. The local
communities elect a representative who is
part of the larger inter-community organisational structure of ASOCASAN, the Alto
San Juan Community Council. Under Law
70 of 1993, this council is the highest
autonomous internal administration body
in the Upper Basin of the San Juan River,
and it is one which upholds the permanence of the local culture.
Representatives from different localities
participated in developing the BCP. They
agreed that illegal mining and the extraction of natural resources in the community
forests were major concerns. They also
identified cultural practices that help
reduce the loss of habitats, and proposed
synergies with key State institutions as a
basis for relating with them during the
implementation of development projects
and research in the territory.
A challenge for local processes is identifying cultural mechanisms to mitigate
problems caused by external agencies, as
well as expressing values that the community wishes to be considered for its
development. This article shows the
actions taken by the Alto San Juan commu-