|
Case Study: Colombia
Juan Mayr Maldonado The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, declared as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, sits as an isolated mountain apart from the Andes chain that runs though Colombia. Reaching an altitude of 5,775 meters above sea level just 42 kilometers from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the world's highest coastal peak. The Sierra Nevada encompasses about 17,000 square kilometers and serves as the source of 36 rivers. Because of its altitudinal variation as well as its location at 11 deg. north latitude, the Sierra Nevada contains samples of all the climatic zones that can be found in tropical America. The Sierra was a Pleistocene refuge for hundreds of species, many of which evolved in isolation within the Sierra. This fact accounts for the high diversity and endemism of species found in the area, including 100% endemism of amphibians and reptiles above the 3,000-m level. Like a biogeographic island, the Sierra is surrounded by a diversity of ecosystems. They include the Guajira peninsula desert; the Cienaga Grande of Magdalena with its complex system of mangroves; and the Caribbean coast and its large extensions of dry lowlands that are washed by rivers. These rivers originate in the "water factory" of the Colombian Caribbean known as the Sierra Nevada. THE HISTORY OF THE SIERRA NEVADA A Sustainable Pre-Colombian Past Humans have been present in this region for thousands of years. The first inhabitants subsisted on fishing and collecting mollusks in the swamps near the Sierra Nevada. With the coming of agriculture and pottery making, the area's inhabitants began to look for other ways of making a living. At the onset of the Christian era, a heavily concentrated human population lived in the lower parts of the Sierra as well as in some of the valley and river areas, developing an understanding of the ecosystems and an adaptation to the ecological process of the mountain. Gradually through the centuries, these people built one of the region's most advanced cultures, based on their harmonious use of the fragile and varied ecosystems that the mountains offered. When the Spaniards arrived in 1502, they found a Sierra that was totally inhabited by native cultures, including the Tairona who had reached an advanced level of development in the steep mountains. The Tairona used a vertical system of terraces, drainage systems, and stone slab paths to control rainwater and avoid soil erosion throughout the varied ecosystems and climates of the Sierra. Population estimates derived through archaeological studies suggest that there were approximately 700,000 inhabitants in the area when the Spaniards arrived. Descriptions like that of Friar Pedro Simon describe what the Spaniards found: "If there is a paradise in this land of Indians it seems to be this one....It is crowned by high peaks, areas inhabited by big towns that are visible from everywhere....The different plants were a treat for the eyes...clean and tidy patios with huge bright stones...stone paths.... The most interesting things to see were the root plants and corn, potatoes, yucca, yam, pumpkins, peppers, cotton plantations, and trees of almost every fruit, some zapote trees, guamas, mamones, guava, apricot, curos, nuts, and many other fruit trees." Many chronicles from this period refer to the number of towns and cities, astronomy, the carefully terraced agricultural work, the area's fauna and flora, pottery and gold work, and the cultural development and customs of the local people. Spanish Conquest, Colonial Period, and Independence The Spaniards did not understand nor tolerate the indigenous culture. In their quest for gold - the sacred objects of the Tairona - they subjugated the local people, destroying their towns and their economic base. After one hundred years of resistance, the Tairona finally surrendered, abandoning their towns to be reclaimed by the dense jungle. During the Conquest and the subsequent colonial period, the Catholic religion was imposed and new systems of land tenure were instituted. The concentration of property in the hands of a few large land-owners, along with the concepts of haciendas and encomiendas began in the lowlands. Those who were not able to escape to the high Sierra and adapt to the new conditions they found were forced to work as slaves in the haciendas. The initiation of cattle ranching systems resulted in deforestation and concentrated land-ownership in the hands of a few wealthy individuals. Throughout the colonial period, the Spaniards tried to establish permanent settlements in the Sierra but failed in all their attempts. They did, however, establish economic and administrative centers of activity in the lowlands around the mountain. During the wars for independence, the Sierra Nevada served as a political refuge. It also served as a smuggler's route in the illegal tobacco trade. With the creation of the Republic, the sovereign state of Magdalena ceded the territories of Nevada and Motilones to the central government because these lands were inhabited by "savage indians." Since the Spanish Conquest, the Sierra has remained isolated. In the second half of the 19th century, the area was a scientific attraction center for many foreign travelers who visited the region. Some sought, unsuccessfully, to establish agricultural colonies to take advantage of the variety of weather conditions and the quality of the soil they found. The first half of the 20th century saw the establishment of the first coffee farms along the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Prosperity came rapidly, and the plains surrounding the Sierra became urban centers. By the end of the 1940s, many campesino families from the interior of the country had migrated to the Sierra Nevada to escape political violence, taking the best lands for their settlements and forcing the indigenous people to move to higher lands. THE SIERRA NEVADA TODAY After five hundred years of cultural contact, the Sierra Nevada of today is the product of its history of wars and resistance, the fusion of races and religions, migration, the external forces of local supply and international demand for its products, and current political interests and its effects. As a result of its geographic and historical characteristics, the Sierra Nevada is now shared by a diverse set of ethnic and cultural groups. The high reaches of the mountain are inhabited by traditional indigenous groups, the middle slopes are occupied by Andean campesinos, and the Caribbean plains are inhabited by the lowland cultures. Each of these groups has a different way of interpreting reality and understanding life. Each one has different interests, expectations, and language. Each has a different perception and vision of the environment. The Sierra's population, and that of the surrounding communities, consists of many different cultural groups, including 30,000 members of the indigenous cultures of the Kogi, Arhuaco, and Wiwa groups. There are also approximately 150,000 campesinos, 1.3 million city dwellers and individuals involved in business, three guerrilla groups, several paramilitary factions, and numerous military troops, each with its own set of interests and values. In the Sierra Nevada, the only stable populations are the indigenous groups, each with their own language, but they share similar belief systems. The Kogi, direct descendants from the old Tairona, still maintain their own traditions as a result of their isolation after the Conquest. Their contact with Western society has been sporadic, leaving them with a high level of autonomy. For the Kogi, the Sierra Nevada is "The Heart of the World." Their laws, based on the "Law of the Mother," refer to nature and man and to their harmonious relationship, which is defined by the movement of the stars in the sky throughout the course of the year. Their biggest difficulties after the Conquest were the loss of their traditional territories and their ecosystems and the violations of their sacred places by treasure hunters. The Arhuaco, or Ijka, culture was seriously affected by the Conquest due to the advance of Spanish colonization and the 80-year presence of the Capuchin mission. The Capuchins forbade the use of the Arhuaco language and the customs of the Arhuaco culture, creating a deep division in the community. Today two factions within the community exist: those who were able to retain their traditional customs and the mestizos who were separated from their culture and educated in the Western traditions. Similarly, the culture of the Wiwas was suppressed and weakened by the Spaniards. They also lost their traditional territories and, because of violence, were forced to migrate to other areas within the Sierra and beyond in search of new lands. A fourth ethnic group, the Kankuamos, disappeared as a culture. They were absorbed by Western culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the campesinos arrived in Santa Marta during the 1950s as a result of political violence in Colombia's interior. Migrating from different regions of the country, and especially from the Andean region, they found many similarities in the Sierra environment to their places of origin. However, they defined their relationship to the environment through the accumulation of possessions, in contrast to the indigenous respect for and interaction with the ecosystem. The campesinos began to colonize the former indigenous territories, looting the Tairona tombs that were rich in gold, semiprecious stones, and pottery. They also began extracting high-quality timber and other local resources that could provide them with quick economic benefits. Forests were cleared to create pastures to raise cattle and other livestock. In addition, the new settlers began to grow shade coffee; they found the ideal conditions for cultivation and a steady market demand. Due to international demand, the campesinos began to cultivate marijuana in the late 1970s, which resulted in the greatest loss of forest in the history of the Sierra Nevada. It also had a serious negative impact on the indigenous territories and on the volume and flow of the hydrological system of the region. With the marijuana boom came new inhabitants looking for quick profits. In addition, with marijuana came the national government to fumigate the area by air with glifosfato and paraquat, causing even more severe environmental damage. Marijuana also brought with it corruption and violence. Such was the discontent of the campesinos with the government that this area became a fertile ground for guerrillas and subsequently for the substitution of marijuana with coca, another quick profit crop that was resistant to fumigation with herbicides. Another group, one which does not live in the Sierra Nevada but nevertheless depends on its hydrological resources and has economic interests in the Sierra, is the coastal culture that settled in the lowlands surrounding the mountain. This zone is characterized by its fertile land and also contains the region's principal urban settlements. The capitals of the political departments and municipalities, the regional administrative centers, and the largest populations are also located within this area. Politically and administratively, the Sierra Nevada is divided into three departments and eleven municipalities with two national parks and two indigenous reservations. The numerous institutions that administer the region lack effective mechanisms for coordination. Concentration of land ownership and political power is characteristic of the region. Large farms, as in colonial times, are in the hands of a few individuals. Cattle ranching, and more recently banana and African palm plantations, provide support for the national economy. Banana plantations in particular are extremely labor-intensive. Their existence has resulted in increased migration and in the establishment of less-than-optimal human settlements in the region. Along the Caribbean coast, property values have reached unexpected levels due to the construction of large tourist developments. The reconstruction of one of the old Tairona capitals in the Sierra Nevada has created an increase in uncontrolled tourism, which in turn has contributed to increased property values. It has also contributed to further environmental and cultural degradation. At this time the Sierra Nevada and its zone of influence could be considered a microcosm of the national reality. It contains with its different ecosystems and cultures as well as guerrilla and paramilitary groups supported by the economic and political power of the lowlands. The intervention of the army has led to a violent solution to these conflicts in a way that violates human rights. CULTURAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL PRESSURES ON NATURAL RESOURCES It is important to note that in the Sierra Nevada, the pressure put on resource conservation by people is not the result of high-population density. It is instead a result of local attitudes towards the conservation of natural resources. The diversity of cultures and external interests in this area creates enormous variation in natural resource use and pressures put on the resource base. The indigenous populations suffered territorial and organizational fragmentation with the arrival of outsiders. The immigration of colonists and the subsequent invasion of indigenous territories left them with the highest and least productive zones of the Sierra, which led to an overexploitation of the high-mountain ecosystems. Violence among various groups also led to the migration of several indigenous groups to other ecoregions within the Sierra and, in a few cases, to nearby regions. The systematic looting of sacred sites also weakened the management traditions of indigenous groups. The campesinos who first migrated to the Sierra Nevada brought with them different land use practices based on quick exploitation for quick profits, which helped them establish permanent settlements in the region. The increased demand for marijuana in the 1970s resulted in an alarming rate of deforestation and a new wave of individuals migrating to the area to cultivate marijuana. Of this new immigrant population -a group with no traditional links to the Sierra Nevada -only a few individuals remained in the area after they had exploited and destroyed it. Today only 18% of the original forest remains. With the arrival of marijuana came violence and civil unrest. When the government began its program of fumigating marijuana fields by air, the guerrillas arrived. With the guerrillas came paramilitary groups. Into the midst of this conflict came the national army. With this new situation, the old group of colonists who had arrived at the end of the 1940s migrated to the cities, leaving their farms to the amedieros, managers who received a percentage of the farm's production in return for their services. The amedieros did not own the land; their primary interest was to get the maximum amount of profit in the minimum amount of time. Timber cutting proved to be the means for the amedieros to derive the fastest profit. As a result of these events, the new local population became somewhat unstable and transitory. In addition to the influence of the international marijuana market, another external factor influenced activities in the Sierra Nevada: the fall of international coffee prices that had served as the income staple of the local campesino population. With the onset of the coffee crisis, coffee growers fell into debt and were unable to meet their financial obligations. Coffee also served to generate an annual migration of approximately 15,000 workers who came to the Sierra Nevada from other parts of the country to benefit from the coffee harvest. Tourism places another kind of pressure on local resources, for example, the Ciudad Perdida, also known as the Teyuna to indigenous groups. Teyuna is one of the large settlements that was built by the Taironas and was subsequently reclaimed by the jungle, following its abandonment after the Spanish Conquest. It is a sacred site for indigenous groups. Although the location of the Ciudad Perdida was previously known to treasure hunters, it was "discovered" in 1976 and "restored" by archaeologists. In the eyes of the indigenous people, the site had been looted again. Teyuna is located at the headwaters of the Buritaca River, one of the few regions that had escaped from the destruction caused by marijuana growers. These growers were deterred by the presence of the archaeological project in the Ciudad Perdida. The remains of this pre-hispanic settlement are located within the limits of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park and the Indigenous Reservation. As time passed, Ciudad Perdida became famous and gradually began to attract visitors who arrived both by land and by helicopter. Due to a lack of tourism management policies, some tourism companies operating in the region did so without regard to the fragility of the region. Tourism in this area is growing rapidly -4,500 visitors in 1993 and 5,500 in 1994 -without infrastructure for tourism or rules of conduct for tourists or tourism operators. New routes were opened in the forest to allow for the passage of mules. Local indigenous groups became tourist attractions in themselves, without their consent. Real estate values increased, slowing the process by which the lands were to be returned to indigenous groups. Tourism development has become so popular that plans to build a cable car to run through the jungle are currently being developed. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, PROGRAMS, AND PROJECTS The national policy for the Sierra Nevada began with the declaration of the Forestry Reserve in 1959. In 1964 the Government of Colombia declared part of the Sierra Nevada as a national park. Then in 1974 and 1982, the government declared two indigenous reservations that overlap the national park, returning part of the original territories to the traditional cultures. Colombian law also allows indigenous groups to live within the boundaries of the national parks if they contain their traditional lands. In 1986 the Fundación Pró-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta began its conservation work in the area, focusing on micro- and macro-level conservation programs in a holistic manner. At the micro-level, the Fundación developed and maintains two ecological stations in cooperation with the National Institute of Natural Resources and one community center. These centers are located strategically at the borders of the national park and in its buffer zone. Through these field programs, the Pro-Sierra field staff reaches out to the local people by providing them with the tools to meet their basic human needs while participating in the protection of the area. These field programs also act as permanent monitoring sites to enable field staff to better understand social, political, economic, and environmental changes in the area. At the macro-level, the Fundación undertook a comprehensive study of the social, political, economic, and environmental conditions of the region. The study, which provided the first glimpse of a vision of a "territorial unity," thematically compiled a database that included geographical information and cartography, analyzed land tenure patterns since the 16th century, and assessed the current situation of the indigenous territories. Similarly, the institutional aspects of these conditions were also investigated, with an emphasis on health, education, and infrastructure. One of the main recommendations of the study was the need to democratize information and raise public awareness in order to modify the attitudes and the behavior of the region's inhabitants and those of the institutions that deal with it. As a result, the Fundación has developed a Conservation Strategy for the Sierra Nevada through a participatory process of reflection and analysis of environmental damage. The Conservation Strategy was developed with the active participation of indigenous and campesino communities, government entities, the academic sector, and representatives from the private sector. These groups examined the causes and effects of environmental degradation within the region. A series of learning-and-training workshops took place that allowed for the establishment of a common language, which has facilitated communication among the groups. They searched for viable solutions by having the different players operating within the area's zone of influence negotiate with each other. Water was found to be the common interest among the groups. Because of deforestation, the region experiences severe drought during the dry season. During the rainy season, in contrast, the lowlands suffer from an extreme water flow that creates damaging floods. The future of the region and the potential for its sustainable development is endangered. CONCLUSIONS The Sierra Nevada and its inhabitants depend on several forces beyond their control: international markets (both legal and illegal); political decisions made in government centers surrounding the Sierra, and; policies defined by the central government in Bogotá, and by guerrilla groups and other armed forces. Only the traditional indigenous groups that have maintained their sustainable practices and management of their lands have retained a degree of autonomy over their own existence. They have done so by permanently readapting themselves to changing conditions. It is also clear that culture determines the behavior of people towards their environment. In the case of indigenous populations, approximately 700,000 inhabitants lived in the area before the Conquest. Their harmonious way of life left only traces of their civilization as their legacy, a civilization that was reclaimed by jungle in the years after the Spanish Conquest. In contrast, a population of only 150,000 campesinos has almost destroyed the equilibrium of this great "water factory," subjecting the Sierra to the erosion process. The pattern of land ownership and the concentration of political power in the hands of a few individuals has led to increased pressure on the use of natural resources by the other sectors of the population. It has also forced indigenous groups to move to the higher and less productive reaches of the mountain system. A constant throughout the recent history of the Sierra Nevada has been violence. With violence has come human rights violations, one of the most decisive factors affecting the area's resource base. A campesino once said, "How can we think about sustainable development that requires a vision of future if we do not know if we will be killed tomorrow?" Complex problems require complex solutions. REFERENCES Bernal Carlo, Amanda. 1991. Herpetology of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia: A Biogeographical Analysis. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilm International. Fundación Pró-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. 1991. Historia y Geograf'a, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Bogotá: Fundación Pró-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. CORPES; Fondo FEN; Bavaria; PROPAL; Banco de Occidente; Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation; Unión Mundial para la Conservación de la Naturaleza-UICN. Mayr Maldonado, Juan. 1987. Contribución a la Astronom'a de los Kogi. In Etnoastronom'a Americana, edited by Elizabeth von Hidebrand and Jorge Arias de Greiff, 57-68. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional. Molano Bravo, Alfredo. 1988. Contribución a una Historia Oral de la Colonización de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Recuento Anal'tico. Bogotá: Fundación Pró-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. (Diagnóstico de la SNSM Area Social; No. 4.) Gobernación del Magdalena; CORPOCESAR; CORPOGUAJIRA; FPSN con el apoyo del Fondo FEN para la Protección del Medio Ambiente. Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. 1978-1979. Colombia Ind'gena: Per'odo Prehispánico. In Manual de historia de Colombia, 33-106. Bogotá: Instituto Colombiano de Cultura.
| ||||||||