Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - January 14, 2025 - Indigenous groups in Colombia have been protecting the Amazon Rainforest for a long time by using indigenous knowledge and methods to keep species alive.
Some people have ignored or tried to stop them, though, and in the last 50 years, about 20% of the jungle has been lost.
Indigenous people celebrated the creation of a Permanent Subsidiary Body and the start of the Cali Fund at the COP 16 United Nations biodiversity meeting in Cali, Colombia.
However, Indigenous communities don't get much help with money, politics, or safety, and they still don't have enough government representation. In Colombia, indigenous people who fight for the environment are often killed, and their work is often met with violence.
Indigenous peoples' contributions to environmental projects are often ignored or taken advantage of, which can lead to problems like unclear carbon rights deals, hard-to-understand contracts, and being forced to leave their homes and land. With traditional farming methods and agroecological calendars, indigenous information is passed down from generation to generation and is shared by everyone. Indigenous people are very good at putting plans into action, which means that fewer trees are cut down.
They also don't follow the Western way of thinking about individualistic consumption. Instead, they value sustainability and group thought. Indigenous people plan their lives and ask for permission before cutting down trees and plants.
This is because they have a spiritual link to nature.
The word "conservation" comes from Western politics, but Indigenous people see it as a two-way street.
In Colombia's Putumayo area, traditional ways of doing things are mixing with new ideas.
One example is the work of Tulia Elena Quistial Lara, who is an Indigenous Pasto woman.
Quistial checks the quality of the water in Indigenous towns and helps with community projects to collect trash and teach people how to protect the environment.
But she has to deal with problems like not having enough resources, people in her town not believing her, and the government not recognizing her race.
Indigenous communities are always in danger, including from businesses that take from the environment, like copper mining and oil production.
To improve the rights and living conditions of Indigenous peoples in Colombia, the government has done things like recognizing them as environmental authorities and funding projects run by Indigenous people.
Indigenous peoples still feel helpless, though, and organizations don't help them.
