PARENT SESSION
Oral Session 17: Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Presiding: E Sulzman
Monday, August 2, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Meeting Room F 151.
The Otavalos traditional knowledge as the basis for sustainable management of eco-diversity in highland Ecuador.
Cotacachi, Cesar*,1, 1 Otavalo Kichwa Tours, Otavalo, Imbabura, Ecuador
ABSTRACT- The traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of indigenous people is an important tool for conservation of natural resources. Community lands, like sacred places or sanctuaries, have metaphysical importance, involving ceremony, mysticism and fairness, which imply a certain level of human behavior oriented to conservation of natural resources. Each indigenous group in Ecuador has their own cosmological vision as the result of the specificity of the relationship between indigenous groups and the type of ecosystem where they live in. The Kichwas of Otavalo is a group of native people living in northern Ecuador, South America, in inter-Andean valleys over 7,381 ft elevation. The highlands and its ecosystems (e.g., Andean forests, lakes and riparian buffers, paramo, and production lands) are still used by Kichwas of Otavalo according to their mysticism, religion, culture and identity. Anthropological analyses and linguistic methods were used to identify key concepts inside the oral tradition of communities. Ayakuna and Samaykuna in Kichwa language were found to be strong concepts which in sciences are considered as the physical forces of nature. Those concepts are regulating the agricultural cycle, the timing of using resources from the forest, water supply management, and celebrations during the solstice and the equinox. Concepts and knowledge in Kichwa language are socialized, which regulates the type of relationship of human groups with their ecosystems. Losing key words in Kichwa endangers the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of those people. Incorporating native concepts and techniques of land use and natural resources management in highlands into the modern concepts of development and sustainability will help conservation of eco-diversity in specific areas of Ecuador where indigenous groups are living in.
Key words: kichwas, Samaykuna, Otavalo, Ayakuna