How do you see the traditional knowledge of indigenous women, the way of life of indigenous women intertwining with nature conservation?
Indigenous women live their relationship with nature on a daily basis, because they are the ones cultivating the farms, making pottery, they know the medicines, they get a lot of knowledge from this relationship with nature and they transmit it to their children, so that this traditional knowledge is not lost.
From the communities, how do women contribute to the conservation of Mother Earth? What do they do?
They contribute their knowledge, from practice to transmission; they have their songs, their way of cultivating, their way of asking the earth to make their ceramics, their arts; that specific system of knowledge is not compatible with that other form of extraction that comes from outside, which ends up plundering the territory’s resources.
As indigenous women, what are their priorities when it comes to nature conservation? What are your priorities and what do you want to see happening for nature conservation?
First, the transmission of knowledge. Because traditional knowledge maintains our territory, our preserved forest, and because if there were no indigenous peoples, the forests would not exist. We see that, in the big cities, there are no more forests! So it is very important for us to have these two ways of seeing things: culture and nature cannot be separated.
Starting in 2020, strategic policy events will take place. There is the IUCN Congress in Marseille, all the discussions in the framework of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and other international platforms. As indigenous women leaders, what would you like to bring to these spaces? What requests would you like to express into these spaces?
As indigenous women, in my territory, we have a proposal called “Sacha Taki - The Songs of the Forest”. So we want to present this proposal at the international level, because in our country, our government does not listen to us. This proposal is for conservation. It is so that our forests, our territories, continue to sing, to live! Because we always say, our territory is life. So what can we do? I mean, how can they help us internationally? Spreading the word, so that this proposal drives the well-being of all peoples, from our Life Plans.
What is the proposal about?
The proposal is for our forests and territories to keep on singing, that is, that we can continue to hear all these sounds of the forest, and our people can continue to sing for the forests, the rivers, the animals, the plants, the spirits... We want to show that these songs are one of the greatest expressions of life, and how life in our forests is expressed through these songs. Our territory is a living forest, where all species, all living beings, human and non-human, express themselves through their own, natural and cultural forms. These sounds are an heritage that we want to preserve forever, because they are a treasure for all humanity. From the worldview of indigenous peoples we connect with the spirits, with the spiritual beings of the forest. We think that forests, rivers, stones, lagoons, have life, have spiritual beings, living beings within rivers. This is why there are fish, there are animals. Why? Because there are spirits who own the forest. So, this is what we want the State to recognize, and globally, because, often, this spiritual part is not recognised. So that there may be harmony in our territory, so that there may be life, so that those beings protect us, care for us, so that there may be this harmony, so that we may continue to breathe pure air, in our forest, with our medicinal plants. So, that invisible part that outsiders don't know, we want to make it visible, making these sounds heard, as nature sings, and with it our culture. This is our proposal “Sacha Taki - The Songs of the Forest”.
You have the possibility to send a message to all the peoples of the world, indigenous, non-indigenous, governments, organizations, this is your moment. You, as Rosa from the Kichwa people, as a leading woman who comes from a people fighting from your community, what message would you like to share with the world, about nature, about Mother Earth.
To the world, what I would like to say is that we pause for a moment. Let's look for a space where we can stand, reflect and look back to what life was like in the past and what it is like today. What has led us to this age of destruction of nature, of human lives, of all beings that we live in this world? What can we do to keep existing, to keep our planet alive for a thousand years to come? What I am asking the world is that we take care of the Earth, cultivate healthy food, and stop using plastic. Let's take care of our rivers. Let's walk! Let's use bicycles! All that contribution we give is not just for one, but for everyone. Many times we are talking about climate change, many proposals and many ideas written, but we do not put them to practice... Let's do it! Let's put them to practice! Let's stop waiting for others to act, and let's start from our own families, from our sons and daughters, from our community, and then from our organizations, and so, little by little, we can change. We cannot expect others to change, but we need to change ourselves, from our own ways of life. And today maybe, we still have time. Many say that there is no time, that already in 2040 the weather will affect us and we will not be able to walk in the streets. But now we are still in time to reflect and self-recognize. Why are we in this age of destruction? It is perhaps our own fault, because we have not followed the right path, we have not found a space for reflection so that in this space where we live there is life, there is harmony, there is peace. Let there be no such destruction among ourselves, among families, among neighbors... Let there be such harmony with all and there will be change for our territories.
About the author
Rosa Canelos is the Director of the Sacha Warmi Foundation's “Women, Family and territory” programme in Ecuador. She belongs to the Kichwa Pakiro indigenous people and the name of her community is Pastaza. Rosa, an indigenous woman and leader, is a member of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), which is a member of IUCN. Her community in the Ecuadorian Amazon is one of the territorial bases of COICA.
