Local and Indigenous Knowledge Regarding the Land Use and Use of Other Natural Resources in the Aspiring Rio Coco Geopark

Abstract

There is a limited number of studies describing the situation and importance of current or potential usage of the local and indigenous traditional environmental knowledge in the region of Northern Nicaragua. To fill this gap, the author supported by a local team conducted the participative research in this rather neglected Central American region, concretely in the northern area of the aspiring Rio Coco Geopark. The purpose of this research was to identify the local and indigenous knowledge regarding the present and traditional use of natural resources including land use and to analyse the contribution and potential of the usage of this knowledge for the local development sustainability. The practical long-term impact of this research is expected mainly in the form of enhancement of the local geotourism sustainability. The research process itself was of the same importance as its results, especially the involvement of the local and indigenous people. In this participative research, young local and indigenous people obtained training and served as co-investigators who later interviewed representatives of the local households. The other field methods included life history of elders, discussions in the focal groups involving common people from local communities as well as the mapping and photo-documentation of the identified local and indigenous traditional environmental knowledge. The participative character of the research process not only facilitated the data collection and validation but also supported the revival of the community memory and revitalization of its cultural and natural identity. The research findings point out that the more distant and more dispersed are the local settlements the better conserved local and indigenous knowledge regarding the traditional land use and other use of natural resources is. Among the best-conserved local and indigenous traditional environmental knowledge in the northern area of the aspiring Rio Coco Geopark was the usage of the earth material and plants. The local indigenous people are not expressing and transmitting the spiritual dimension of their traditional environmental knowledge (sacred times or sites, rites, rituals or taboos regarding the traditional land use and other use of natural resources) anymore because they were experiencing a continuous repression realized by the dominant (colonial) society in the past. They are not accustomed to appreciating the aesthetic values of the landscape as do visitors, but they are open to share their authentic life with them. The majority of the identified traditional land use and the use of the other natural resources as well as related traditional environmental knowledge in the researched northern region of the aspiring Rio Coco Geopark seems to be more sustainable than the present land use practices and the use of natural resources generally for agriculture, medicine, constructions etc. The local communities should dedicate much more attention and efforts to conserve, transmit and use this local and indigenous traditional environmental knowledge to enhance the sustainability of their development as well as geotourism emerging in this part of the aspiring geopark.