Paper short abstract:

An attempt is being made to implement a market-based instrument in the territory of the Kamëntsá people, which has generated social and internal conflicts because the development of this project has been shady, contrasts with the indigenous worldview and threatens the rights of the Kamëntsá people.

Paper long abstract:

The notions of territory and good living of the Kamëntsá people are interrelated with their culture, language and worldview. Therefore, there is a relationship of reciprocity and intimacy between nature and the community. As Kamëntsá elders point out, “the territory begins with oneself”. Consequently, any approach to conservation must first ensure that these elements are maintained.

The Kamëntsá people have resisted different forms of colonization and exploitation of their territory in recent years: from single-crop farming and GMOs, deforestation from livestock and illegal logging, mineral extraction and construction of a military base, trafficking of native species and the appropriation of traditional and medicinal knowledge. More recently, the so-called “nature-based solutions” have emerged as a REDD+ project which tried to take advantage of the socioeconomic status of the Kamëntsá people for the benefit of others. This proposal reinforces a colonialist perspective towards Indigenous Peoples and is evidenced in the statement of the company: “this is the most serious possibility for indigenous peoples to conserve nature, according to their culture, and at the same time generate resources for the needs that the modern world and the dominant society, have and are generating for them.”

Together with Kamëntsá researchers and activists, we have advanced several processes against such neocolonial projects and, at the same time, of conservation of the territory and environment based on the indigenous worldview. This can only be achieved with the empowerment of young people, with the valorization of traditional knowledge and the revitalization of the Kamëntsá language and culture.