Munekan Masha: Reviving Water in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
20 June 2022
This vitally important Trust project is now about to begin, as two scientists from the University of Zurich start work with the Kogi Mamas. Preparations have been going on with the Kogi over the last three years. At the same time UNESCO has been planning its BRIDGES initiative to promote humanities-led sustainability science, and has adopted this as its flagship project.
The Trust has carried out the groundwork with Gonawindua Tairona (the OGT) and now they have selected a potential site for the regeneration of water, flora and fauna. For three years, non-indigenous scientists will work with and observe the work of the Mamas, producing regular reports for the academic scientific community to clarify the importance and value of their knowledge and methods in protecting and sustaining nature.
In April 2022, a great meeting of Kogi Mamas and leaders was assembled to review the OGT’s work.
The resulting agreement is endorsed with their fingerprints. It is an historic document.
On the 21st of June we will be presenting this at SRI2022, the global Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress being held online and in Pretoria, in a session in Bridging Systems of Knowledge arranged by the UNESCO BRIDGES Coalition.
On July 8th, two scientists from the University of Zurich have volunteered to fly to Colombia to meet the Mamas and make a joint assessment of the land from the point of view of their respective cultures. They are Ingrid Olivares and Rodrigo Cámara Leret.
We will bring you updates as they report back so please continue to follow us here as well as on our social media to learn more about what they are doing on the field with the Kogi Mamas.
We need your help!
This is a 3-year project which will include first buying the land for the OGT on which the project will be based. We have got this far thanks to the wonderful support of our followers. Now, of course, we need to ask everyone to dig deeper.
The prize is the true sharing of the Kogis’ knowledge. For 30 years they have been saying “You need our help". The first film we made together began with crossing a bridge into their world. Now we are on the other side, we must get to work!
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