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Location

This Territory of Life is in the Indigenous Council of the San Pedro Reservation, Inga People, Municipality of Colon, department of Putumayo, Colombia. It is located within the jurisdiction of the municipalities of Sibundoy, Colón and Mocoa, and the Department of Putumayo, Colombia.

The Community and the Territory of Life

The community belongs to the Inga ethnic group, with a population of 434 inhabitants and 164 families who carry out various activities such as planting beans and corn, livestock, wool and bead crafts, carving wooden objects and minor species, artisanal mining of gold, sand, stone, and gravel, cultivation of fruits, chagras, and traditional indigenous medicine.

The Territory of Life is a source of wealth and environmental services, including flora, fauna, hydrology such as streams, ancestral sacred places, spirituality, worldview, and autonomous governance.

History

Musu Alpa is a place left by the cacique Carlos Tamabioy through a will where he ratifies the territorial property as of March 15, 1700, for the children of the Camentsa and Inga people in the Sibundoy valley. It was protocolised in the Notary No. 2 of the Pasto circuit on September 6, 1928. Subsequently, the Taitas Benito Jajoy and Salvador Jajoy formalised Musu Alpa at the notary's office in Santiago on February 26, 2002, to fulfil dreams of security of possession as paths to Buen Vivir, that is, a territory of life in fullness, collective internal harmony, social harmony with the community and with nature from the material and spiritual.

Organising the Indigenous Council began in 1990 and reached its goal on 26 July 1996, by order of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. Then, the Indigenous Reservation was constituted with Agreement 80 of November 15, 2018, of the National Land Agency, formalised by Tutela No. 2013-00317-00 of September 2013 of the Superior Court of the judicial district of Mocoa Putumayo.

The interest in a safer existence in the face of modernity and the foreign threats of illicit cultivators, hunting and illegal mining led the community to formulate documents for biodiversity protection. Therefore, the Territory of Life must have an environmental mission that includes protection, conservation, surveillance, self-government, and environmental authority.

The fundamental purpose along this path is the protection of biodiversity for the survival of the Inga generation in time and space, for a healthy coexistence with respect for Mother Earth. In this way, progress was made with the management before the Departmental Assembly of Putumayo for the recognition of relevant activities for the community, such as cultural festivals of the Ingas, and the implementation of various initiatives such as the strengthening of the ancestral agrosystem through projects of the National Land Agency, the improvement of the bilingual education infrastructure and the maintenance of the demarcation of the limits of the Territory of Life. among others.

Currently, the Inga people maintain their mother tongue, their own education from the family, traditional medicine, autonomous governance, self-justice, sacred festivals, and protection of Mother Earth with special care for water and highland resources.

Governance, development and monitoring

The area's governance began with oral possession under the Law of Origin and the Greater Law. Subsequently, it was implemented through Western terms following the protocol in the ancestral property notary's office, including petition rights to the relevant entities, guardianships in the claim of ownership of the territory of life and precautionary measures. This process included the preparation of topographic plans, socioeconomic studies, population censuses, treaties of agreement between communities and procedures for organising the cabildo and the indigenous reservation before the Ministry of the Interior and Justice and the Colombian Institute of Agrarian Reform (INCORA), now called the National Land Agency. Governance is represented every year by the Taita governor, based on the fundamental principles of the Inga people that order: Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy, be dignified and live well.

The 2021 NOKANCHIPA IUIATA TUGTUCHISUNCHI ALLILLA PURINGAPA Comprehensive Life Plan embodies the community's development plan. The town is closely linked to the territory because, without it, the life of the Inga people of San Pedro would be endangered.

The social, political, economic, and rational use of surveillance and other activities carried out in the Territory of Life is governed by the Taita governor, the environmental authority, in accompaniment of the TUKUIRRICUJ, or guardians of nature. The latter are responsible for alerting to any type of impact or danger detected and play a critical role in determining alternatives. These control and surveillance activities carried out by the community positively impact both fauna and flora, as well as the volume of water resources.

Challenges and needs

Currently, Musu Alpa faces social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges, to which dialogue is always accustomed based on the rights embodied in the constitution, international treaties, and norms of the Republic.

The community recognises that the following are necessary for the survival of the Territory:

• Technical and legal support for the expansion of the Territory of Life
• Implement meetings with other actors carrying out ICCA-related activities
• Implement sustainable production projects for the improvement of the community
• Logistics to study the site's biodiversity and potential
• Territorial delimitation through murals in the Territory of Life
• Reforestation with endemic species
• Equipment for the production and marketing of agricultural crops and animals
• Strengthening traditional medicine
• Implement a cartographic survey in the face of anthropic intervention
• To acquire lands of sound possession, through certificates of freedom and tradition that have not been falsified in land ownership.
• Environmental education for the community

This case study was originally published by UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) on 07/2024. The content was provided by the custodians of this ICCA. ICCA is self-declared and has not gone through a peer review process to verify its status. More details on this process can be found here. The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United Nations Environment Program or WCMC.