Alan kept a diary during the cross diagnosis event where the Kogi Mamas visited France to engage in discussions with Western academics. Find out what happened.

Alan Ereira was invited to attend a conference with UNESCO  which was designed to create a sustainable framework that would shape global policy making and education.  the conference ended with agreement to build a consortium to create a programme of learning that would integrate views on sustainability from unusual partners. With  a working group created to look at sample sites.  This was something which Alan took to discuss with the Kogi when Trustees met with them in the Sierra. 

Thanks to everyone who helped us fund a vital meeting in the Sierra with the Kogi.  This was called to agree an alliance to help ensure the defence and protection of the Kogi in the Sierra.  Representatives of many of the organisations supporting the Kogi attended. 

Alan has written a full report of the meeting.

Update on the Construction work on the Black line.

We are pleased to report that since drawing this violation of indigenous rights to the attention of the authorities, action has now been taken to suspend the construction work taking place as the builder was found not to have an appropriate licence. So this is great news and means that government protection for the Kogis ancestral lands is actually working!  Thanks is due to support from the German Ambassador in Colombia, half a million protests on social media and pressure from various prominent journalists and organisations like our own working together to support the OGT. So well done everyone - we must keep up the good work!

For further information you can read the full update below.

The Kogi need your help.

To protect themselves from the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire Kogi People have isolated themselves in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta for three months initially, and closed it off to outsiders. They do not descend, and even travel between Kogi villages has been restricted by their authorities to prevent any contagion. As a result, the variety and amount of foods that they can grow and acquire has been drastically reduced, a situation exacerbated by raging wildfires in March that affected many parts of the Sierra, and because govermental assistance has been limited.

The screening of Aluna at the Medicine Festival and the zoom session which followed with Alan Ereira and Mama Senchina boosted our Food appeal so successfully it enabled us to give very generously to the Kogi trapped in their mountain retreat.  It has now also been confirmed that the Colombian government has stepped in to provide support to its indigenous communities so we are pausing our appeal for the time being until we know whether further help is required so a very big thank you to all of you who donated so generously. 

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of José de los Santos Sauna Limaco, fourth Cabildo of the Organización Gondawindúa Tayrona, which acts for indigenous rights in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and represents Kogi interests in particular before the Colombian state.

Santos Sauna contracted COVID 19 in August and died within a few days of being admitted to hospital in Santa Marta on 6th August 2020. He was only 44. Following detailed consultation with his wife, extended family and officials at the highest level of administration in Magdalena, transport was granted for the protected body to be flown back to the Sierra so that the Kogi can observe traditional funeral rites in the place of his birth. 

 Don't miss Alan Ereira's upcoming online talk on 'OWNING THE MAP- indigenous cartography on the front line of climate change' on 16 March 2022

At the entrance to the Lost City of the Tairona in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Mara there is the “mapstone”, but it has never been clear what is being mapped. 

Can we learn from the Kogi what it really signifies?

Alan Ereira will tell us what he thinks it is and how it connects to the indigenous campaign to reshape the map of northern Colombia with the Black Line.  His talk will also cover the significance of indigenous mapping and its importance as a way of understanding the world.

Alan will be in conversation with two leading environmentalists, Bob Gilbert, author of Ghost Trees (2018) and Candace Fujikane, author of Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future (2021).

Introducing the "Munekan Masha: Reviving Water in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta" project!

This ground-breaking project will bring together non-indigenous scientists and the Kogi Mamas who will lead the work in the restoring and regenerating degraded and environmentally damaged land, flora and fauna in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. They are working to share their knowledge-systems at a specially-chosen location in the north face of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta where the Mamas are working to revive damaged and desiccated ancestral land.

The project aims to bring indigenous knowledge and “mainstream” science together for better and more inclusive climate solutions. 

Click the button below to read more about the project's work so far and to find out how you can help!

Our very own Trustee, Luci Attala, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, has contributed to Tchendukua's newsletter with an amazing short piece entitled "Relationships with Water". 

For Luci, water is not an ordinary resource, but rather a shapeshifting one. Drawing from indigenous understandings of water, she briefly explores the value, materiality and culture of sharing that surrounds water. 

Click on the button below to read the full text. 

In July 2022, the Tairona Heritage Trust team, accompanied by two environmental scientists, Ingrid Olivares and Rodrigo Camara Leret, visited the Kogi in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. 

The purpose of their visit was to conduct field work necessary for the preparation of the Munekan Masha: Reviving Water in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta project. 

You can read the full field work report by clicking here. 

In November 2022 the Trust presented the Kogi project Munekan Masha at the public launch of UNESCO-BRIDGES at  the University of Wales, Trinity St David in Swansea.  A Kogi, Jose Manuel Mamatacan, spoke there.  He had been trained as am emissary by the Mamas.

Learn more about his visit to London by watching a talk that Alan Ereira gave to the Learning Planet Festival. 

Click on the button below to watch the video.