TRAJECTS Latin America fellows and main researchers at the entrance to the Amazon campus of the National University of Colombia. ©Photo: TRAJECTS.
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By:
Nataly Díaz Cruz
Academic Coordinator
TRAJECTS Hub Latin America
On the 30th of July, one group of TRAJECTS Latin America fellows and main researchers travelled to the southernmost tip of Colombia to encounter the world's mightiest river and, most importantly, its people, their stories of territorial self-management, and their understanding of life.
For four days, the "Amazonian Limnology" research group from the National University of Colombia in Leticia, led by Professor Santiago Duque, together with the indigenous communities with whom they work, hosted the fifth TRAJECTS Latin America mobile school, which focused on the water-climate-biocultural diversity nexus in the Amazon.
Top left: Sunset on the Amazon River. Top right: Cananguchal, in excellent condition. Bottom left: Urban wetland in Leticia. Bottom right: Amazon rainforest. ©Photos: Yamiled Carmona and TRAJECTS.
The Caribbean, Andean, and Amazonian regions of the country were brought together at this academic event through the participation of master's students from the University of Magdalena in the north, as well as doctoral and master's researchers from the Andean campuses of the National University of Colombia. The conversations and shared experiences surrounding the amphibious culture of traditional communities, the importance of conserving Amazonian ecosystems for maintaining global environmental balance, and the climate change mitigation strategies being advanced in each region served to strengthen the discussion on the need to advance socio-ecological transitions to sustain life.
The main intention of the gathering was to foster in the participants the ability to critically analyse the current environmental context of the Amazon region and to understand the fundamental role of its biocultural diversity for environmental sustainability on a global scale. To this end, academic sessions were held on the premises of the Amazonia campus by professors and researchers from the National University of Colombia, and sessions for the exchange of knowledge and experiences were led by leaders, elders, and knowledge keepers from indigenous communities inhabiting rural and rururban areas of Leticia.
Top left: Professor Santiago Duque at La Playa. Top right: Delfino Parente, leader of the TIKA community. Bottom left: Discussion table at Maloka TIWA. Bottom right: Professor Santiago Duque with the “Walking Tree”. ©Photos: TRAJECTS.
Through keynote lectures and collaborative workshops, professors Erasmo Rodríguez, General Coordinator of TRAJECTS in Latin America; Santiago Duque, coordinator of the Wetlands Management and Governance Laboratory; Juan Carlos Cueva, a TRAJECTS doctoral fellow; and Nataly Díaz, a researcher at IDEA and Academic Coordinator of TRAJECTS LATAM, addressed concepts related to hydrology, hydroclimatology, and water security in the Amazon basin, especially in relation to the area belonging to Colombia. Furthermore, they presented and discussed the first version of the policy brief "Just Transitions to Safeguard the Interconnection with the Amazon" with all the Mobile School participants.
Moving beyond the classroom, researchers from the "Amazonian Limnology" group (Carlos Ferreira and Manuela Moncada) coordinated environmental monitoring exercises of water and air in several flood-prone areas of the region. They also shared strategies that they have been implementing with local institutions and communities to cope with hydric variability, allowing all participants to become acquainted with some strategic tools and methodologies for addressing socio-ecological problems in complex ecosystems. Likewise, the co-researchers and indigenous knowledge keepers from the Los Balcones and El Retiro farms, and from the Tiwa and La Playa communities in the Yahuarcaca wetlands complex, allowed us to learn about some self-management strategies for water and biodiversity through the conservation of cananguchales (water springs in the Amazon), water "planting" through ponds, temporary bans in fishing areas, lake cleaning and, especially, a connection to and respect for natural hydroclimatic dynamics.
TRAJECTS fellows and team with the leaders of the Tiwa indigenous community. ©Photo: TRAJECTS.
The 5th TRAJECTS LATAM Mobile School was a space for meeting and exchanging experiences around the water-climate-biocultural diversity nexus, which provided us with extensive knowledge about successful water self-management and governance strategies on the part of traditional communities who work in conjunction with the academic community in Leticia. Furthermore, and crucially, the school offered us emotive experiences that filled our hearts and spirits, reminding us that no technological solution is sufficient in itself if it is disconnected from the profound meaning contained within the experience of inhabiting a place. In this sense, we are reminded that just transitions must fundamentally be cultural transitions that respect cultural and territorial diversity, as well as planetary boundaries.