Community Reconstruction of Biocultural Landscapes. Application in the Kokonuko Indigenous Territory

To reverse the socioecological impacts derived from the Green Revolution in the indigenous territory of Puracé (Colombia), an agroecological transition proposal is presented with a respectful approach to the traditional knowledge of this community. Reversing the consequences led by industrial agriculture requires abolishing the reliance on non-renewable external inputs to be replaced with nature-based solutions from the biocultural heritage of the community. This article compares traditional agricultural management based on ethnobotanical characterization, biophysical analysis, and landscape evaluation, describing the different agricultural systems that compose the basis of the proposal for an agroecological transition carried out with the Kokonuko community. The results show that traditional management from socially integrated polyculture pilot farms is multifunctional, high agro-diverse, food-sovereignty and traditional medicine oriented. Besides, it has a high energy efficiency compared to industrial monoculture management more related to agrochemicals and direct production to the market. The performance of traditional management in the indigenous territory, previously optimized in pilot farms, would facilitate the reconstruction of biocultural landscapes, strengthen indigenous governance, and recover traditional multifunctionality that guaranteed food sovereignty of the community that was the depository of traditional knowledge, as well as the conservation of seeds, essentials to generate a global transformative change towards sustainability