URL: http://www.amazonteam.org/news/index.php/5/New_Category_of_Rainforest_Preserve
New Category of Rainforest Preserve
June 2008
BOGOTA, Colombia - On June 12, 2008, the Colombian National Park Service announced the creation of the Orito Ingi-Ande Medicinal Flora Sanctuary, a new rainforest preserve dedicated to the protection of medicinal plants. The name "Ingi-Ande," which means "our territory" in the language of the Kofán people, is being used to underscore the robust participation of local indigenous peoples in the design and declaration of the sanctuary, part of which lies on Kofán ancestral lands and is long celebrated in their rich oral traditions.
The newly protected area is located in the municipality of Orito, in the Department of Putumayo, between the Orito and Guamués rivers in the Patascoy river basin. The sanctuary, encompassing an area of 10,626 hectares, will preserve tropical rainforest ecosystems at an altitude of 700 to 3300 meters above sea level. This westernmost extent of the Colombian Amazon harbors the headwaters of important watersheds, and is part of a continuum containing some the nation's greatest biological diversity. Additionally, several in
digenous groups highly proficient in the use of medicinal plants reside there. This new sanctuary will be the only protected area in Colombia dedicated primarily to the conservation of medicinal flora, including, in particular, the yoco plant(Paullinia yoco), which is a liana (climbing vine) of the family Sapindaceaethat grows prolifically in the area and is one of the most highly regarded medicinal plants in the northwest Amazon. Yoco can be considered a "keystone" species in terms of conservation, necessitating the protection of the surrounding ecosystem.
The process of creating, designing, and declaring the Orito Ingi-Ande sanctuary has been the result of a coordinated effort among the Ministry of the Environment, Housing, and Territorial Development; the Special Administrative Unit of the Colombian National Park System; the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT); Rosario University; and especially the Union of Traditional Yagé Healers of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC), whose traditional healers and apprentices provided the support and knowledge necessary to undertake the process. It was these same indigenous communities who first proposed the initiative to the Colombian government in December 2003 and dedicated themselves to keeping the process moving forward. Indigenous Colombians from the Kofán, Inga, Siona, Kamsá, and Coreguaje tribes, primarily traditional healers and apprentices of UMIYAC, have played a key role in this effort.
Notably, indigenous lands comprise a much greater percentage of the Amazon rainforest than do national parks. The process of working in partnership with indigenous peoples to protect culture and rainforest is termed "biocultural" conservation. According to Dr. Mark Plotkin of the Amazon Conservation Team, "biocultural conservation has been the most overlooked approach to rainforest conservation, and the establishment of the Inge-Ande Reserve shows that this methodology is finally gaining traction."
SUMMARY
On Thursday June 12, 2008, Colombia's Ministry of the Environment announced the creation of a rainforest preserve in the municipality of Orito, one of the first of its kind developed to protect medicinal flora. The preservation effort enjoyed a very high level of participation from the local indigenous community, who will use the area to cultivate medicinal plants and in turn conserve traditional healing knowledge.