Traditional Knowledge in the Colombian Amazon: Tensions Between Indigenous Territorial Autonomy and Environmental Governance

The present study aims to analyze the role of traditional knowledge in territorial autonomy and environmental governance, as well as the level of interest of different indigenous and non-indigenous actors in the southern Colombian Amazon in applying traditional knowledge to public policy. Using the theoretical approaches of political ecology as well as a qualitative method, we describe a multidisciplinary project developed and implemented to incorporate knowledge systems of indigenous peoples of the Colombian Amazon into environmental policy. The results present an analysis of arguments by indigenous organizations, researchers, and government environmental agency administrators for and against using traditional knowledge to address the global ecological crisis. Through interviews and reports systematized by researchers and local collaborators within the project, we discuss conflicts that emerge when attempts are made to apply traditional knowledge in asymmetrical spaces of power. This includes responses by local residents to the global governance regime, which imposes policies regarding traditional knowledge in indigenous territories, and the possible repercussions of environmental policies on indigenous autonomy regimes in territories considered to be ancestral by indigenous peoples. We conclude that indigenous communities and organizations are more willing to apply traditional knowledge to public policy when the process is oriented toward strengthening their territorial and environmental autonomy than when external actors attempt to use this knowledge to promote global regulatory regimes that are beyond the control of local actors.