Using lowland tapirs to preserve biocultural diversity in an Indigenous Territory in Colombia

José Jarol Muchavisoy

Initiatives to support the conservation of indigenous communities worldwide have focused almost exclusively on biological and environmental aspects and have excluded cultural views. Working hand-in-hand with a local community, this project proposes to preserve the biocultural diversity in the indigenous community of Musuiuiai by using the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) as a “Landscape Species”. Musuiuiai is located in the foothills at the junction of the Andes and the Amazon basin in Putumayo, Colombia, and to acknowledge the relevance of the traditional knowledge of indigenous people in the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and natural resources, they declared their lands as a Territory of Life–ICCA. Although Musuiuiai has agreements to protect the tapir and its habitat, people from other indigenous lands frequently hunt this species. This project will follow a biocultural approach to strengthen the Musuiuiai’s self-governance, monitor the species, and engage neighbours to change their attitude towards the species. Finally, it is expected that: 1) Musuiuiai take a next step to protect the territory by declaring their lands as a protected area; 2) neighbours participate to design a local strategy to protect the tapir by considering the environmental and anthropogenic drivers of the species distribution; and 3) neighbours self-declare their lands as a Territory of Life-ICCA in the short-term.

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