The 16th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) took place in Colombia during the last two weeks of October 2024. The city of Cali became the main stage for intergovernmental efforts to protect nature. A key outcome of the summit was recognising the critical role of Indigenous peoples in conserving global biodiversity. (Leer artículo en español)
Legally recognised Indigenous territories represent over 28% of the world’s land surface and intersect approximately 40% of all terrestrial protected areas. It is widely known that most of these territories are managed in ways compatible with environmental conservation by sustaining, protecting and even enhancing ecosystem diversity through ‘accompanying’ natural processes. COP16 marked a significant milestone for Indigenous peoples worldwide by adopting a new Programme of Work to safeguard traditional knowledge and by establishing a Subsidiary Body as a dedicated permanent forum for Indigenous peoples and local communities to achieve the goals of the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Aligned with this global Indigenous movement, the AWAI organisation of the Inga People of Colombia also contributed to COP16 by supporting the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity in official negotiations and showcasing the research project Awaska Alpa_Woven Territory at Antonio José Camacho University, a collaboration between AWAI and the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich. Awaska Alpa is a critical cartographic exploration aimed at “re-discovering” the extent and complexity of ancestral Inga territory beyond what is legally recognised by the state. This action research project also seeks to understand the intricate political, cultural, and spiritual relationship between the Inga people and the broader territory “walked by the elders” (caminado por los abuelos).
Beginning in 2022, a team of 45 “knowers” and weavers used large-scale aerial imagery to locate all 94 Inga communities. Each community was represented with a colourful chumbe strip that holds and supports mountains, forests, rivers, and towns crafted with local materials from the Andean Amazon. It is the first time all Inga communities are simultaneously represented in a three-dimensional cartography, unveiling a broader perspective of their territory. The exhibition of Awaska Alpa at COP16 sparked an intercultural dialogue among Inga community members, representatives of the Colombian government, and civil society about the importance of acknowledging and protecting the biological and cultural knowledge embedded in Indigenous ancestral territories.
While COP16 highlighted the ongoing challenges in securing the resources needed to safeguard Earth’s ecosystems, it also conveyed a message of hope by recognizing the invaluable knowledge that less “developed” regions contribute. Indigenous peoples are leading the way in understanding nature not just as a biological space but as a biocultural one.
Santiago del Hierro is a LUS doctoral fellow at Architecture of Territory, where his research looks at new ways of understanding and representing Indigenous territories in Colombia. He holds an MArch from Yale University, where he studied as a Fulbright scholar. Previously, he was a design researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie (2009-2010) in Maastricht and taught at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (2011-2017).
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Awaska Alpa_Woven Territory
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