l Defending our territory: the biocultural community protocol of Alto San Juan, Colombia 139
Table 2: Content of the ASOCASAN biocultural community protocol
Topics
National legal framework
History of the community (where we come from, historical
processes of occupation)
Law 70 of 1993
Definition of the community (who we are), how the
community defines itself
Governance structure (ASOCASAN)
Decree 1745 of 1995
Our relationship with the land and natural resources
Political constitution of Colombia
Law 70 of 1993
Law 99 of 1993
Decree 1745 of 1995
Resolution of ASOCASAN
Our relationship with the mining resource
Law 70 of 1993
National code of mining
How we use forest resources
Decree 2811 of 1974
Traditional medicine (traditional knowledge)
Decree 309 of 2000
Challenges (final provisions)
Commitments
Our expectations for the future
consider flexible timeframes since some
stages may require more time than
expected. The drafting process can be as
time-consuming as the diagnosis stage. It is
important to use simple language, but not
to use too many local phrases that make it
difficult for outsiders to understand.
A BCP should not be the ultimate goal,
but rather should be part of a community
management process which links community efforts to a specific purpose. BCPs
should be linked to other management
tools to help local processes. ASOCASAN
currently has internal regulations for the
use and exploitation of natural resources or
regulations regulating community activities which, along with the BCP, contribute
to the internal management of the territory.
The methodological activities (e.g.
interviews) were mainly carried out by the
organisations supporting the process (IIAP
and Natural Justice) and although communication was constant, time did not permit
the sufficient generation of capacity in the
community so that the community could
take on these tasks themselves. This was
due to the set timeframe for the project in
the donor contract (nine months).
However, the continual participation of
representatives of ASOCASAN generated
ownership of the content and usefulness of
the BCP, an aspect that is crucial for negotiation processes for activities affecting the
territory.
Regarding impact, being a new
management tool, the BCP does not have
any political positioning, due to a lack of
awareness of its potential. This means that
more must be done to give it greater recognition and to raise awareness among the
environmental and municipal authorities
of the importance of this type of community process.
As a community instrument, community protocols face barriers such as
economic interests of unions (miners,