Protecting Indigenous and Local Knowledge Through a Biocultural Diversity Framework

ABSTRACT: Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) is intrinsically connected to knowledge holders’ worldviews and relationships to their environments. Mainstream rights-based approaches do not recognize this interconnection and are hence limited at protecting the integrity of ILK. This paper presents t...

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Autores:
Nemogá Soto, Gabriel Ricardo
Appasamy, Amanda
Romanow, Cora Anne
Tipo de recurso:
Article of investigation
Fecha de publicación:
2022
Institución:
Universidad de Antioquia
Repositorio:
Repositorio UdeA
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:bibliotecadigital.udea.edu.co:10495/45331
Acceso en línea:
https://hdl.handle.net/10495/45331
Palabra clave:
Diversidad Cultural
Cultural Diversity
Pueblos Indígenas
Indigenous Peoples
Cosmovisión
Worldview
Propiedad intelectual
Intellectual property
Cosmología indígena
Indian cosmology
Culturas indígenas
Indian cultures
Emberas
Embera indians
Río Atrato
http://vocabularies.unesco.org/thesaurus/concept5325
https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D018864
https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D000081034
Rights
openAccess
License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT: Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) is intrinsically connected to knowledge holders’ worldviews and relationships to their environments. Mainstream rights-based approaches do not recognize this interconnection and are hence limited at protecting the integrity of ILK. This paper presents two cases in Colombia in which, by recognizing community-environment interconnections, the biocultural diversity framework advanced the protection of communities’ ILK. The first case draws on court findings that recognized Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples’ biocultural rights and granted legal personhood to the Atrato River—a pioneering ruling in the American hemisphere. The second case involved participatory fieldwork with the Embera peoples in designing a biocultural community protocol, reinforcing their relationship with the forest and protecting their biocultural heritage. The two cases illustrate that the biocultural diversity framework is inclusive of Indigenous and local communities’ worldviews and is hence an essential tool for the development of culturally appropriate protective mechanisms for ILK.