Múnekañ Masha

Munekan Masha: Reviving Water in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Múnekañ Masha (‘let it be (re)born’) is a transdisciplinary, collaborative, ecological restoration project, endorsed by the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition. The project supports its indigenous partners, the Kogi people, to influence land management methods by disseminating their techniques to a wider audience. 

This ground-breaking project is a joint venture of the Kogi Mamas (spiritual leaders) and non-indigenous scientists. They are working to share their knowledge-systems at a specially-chosen location in the north face of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia where the Mamas will work to revive damaged and desiccated ancestral land.

AN INDIGENOUS-LED INITIATIVE THAT AIMS TO REVITALIZE COLOMBIAN FORESTS AND TRANSFORM GLOBAL CONSERVATION PRACTICES.

Designed in collaboration by a group of indigenous elders practitioners and academics, Múnekañ Masha sees Kogi teachers training European scholars in their ancient conservation methods for the first time in history.

Context: 

The Kogi describe the landscape as a fabric connected by fundamental forces that must be maintained for planetary health. Despite labouring to maintain territory health, the Kogi increasingly struggle to work effectively because of local industrial developments. They recognise a disregard for indigenous strategies made possible by the dominance of certain methods and knowledge systems over others. As a result of these factors, the Kogi created this initiative to find ways to save the environment in the Sierra and maybe further afield.

Method:

Anthropologists and environmental scientists from University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Zurich University and Colombia will be taught Kogi methods over 3 years on a parcel of degraded territory purchased for this purpose. By simultaneously monitoring environmental changes and facilitating periods of dialogue between local practitioners and conventional experts, the team will co-evaluate methods and seek synergies to incorporate indigenous approaches into conventional land management techniques.

Benefit:

The project will enable different approaches to work together to produce activity models for learners of all ages that allow Kogi methods to be included in curricula and replicated in other locations.

This project develops a long-standing relationship between a UK charity (the Tairona Heritage Trust) and the Kogi people. It advances the commitments that were established over 40 years ago by returning the ancestral lands of the Sierra Nevada in Colombia to the Kogi people so that they can restore it to its once flourishing state.

Visit the Project page on the Tairona Heritage Trust website: Munekan Masha Project: Reviving Water in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta — Tairona Heritage Trust