Economy and Environmental Services in Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities: the local point of view

Economy and Environmental Services in Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities: the local point of view

Colombia - 06 June, 2010

As part of the results of the cooperation agreement signed between TBI Colombia and Patrimonio Natural Fund for the Biodiversity and Protected Areas, on 16 and 17 June 2010 a roundtable discussion was carried out under the title ‘Economy and Environmental Services in Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities: the local point of view’.

This discussion was attended by approximately fifty people of the public and private sector from the main environmental institutions of the country, representatives of the indigenous communities of ‘La Selva de Matavén’ Vichada and Middle Caquetá region in the Amazon, and representatives of Afro-descendants Communities of the Gulf of Tribuga in Choco.

Below are the memories of this event, which include the contributions from the participant institutions and some of the proposed answers to the question: what cannot be left out of a system of incentives for conservation in collective territories?

During this roundtable discussion the experiences and results of local research about the local visions of the environmental services, development projects and local economy were presented. The research included exchange of experiences in the communities related to the meaning of money, the mechanisms for own payments, the impact of the arrival of money in the communities, money management by indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, their relationship with projects from external organisations, the focus and consultation, or lack of it for the development of projects, the strengthening of local processes, the feminine and masculine view of knowledge, the management of traditional agricultural systems and the benefits of nature.