Enfoque de conocimiento tradicional indígena en el cuidado de un área especial de plasma germinal medicinal en Putumayo, Colombia

A group of shamans from a number of different indigenous peoples in the piedmont of the Colombian Amazonia have collaborated in the biological and cultural recuperation of their territory. Via the Union of Indigenous Doctors in the Colombian Amazonia (UMIYAC), these shamans have worked in coordination with the Ethnobotanical Institute to establish a special conservation area for medicinal plants, whose management principles are based on both western scientific and traditional indigenous knowledge. The shamans’ knowledge is based on the relationship between traditional medicine and the management of local biodiversity. This article describes the relationship between the tangible and intangible aspects of management that is an essential part of the medical work of the shamans. It aims to establish a relationship between the material use of natural resources used in traditional medicine and the ideas of stewardship and cultural management that are derived from the indigenous cosmovision.