EQUAL COP16 concluding the global biodiversity meeting in Colombia this week, we take you to the front line in the fight against climate change, where for centuries the Wayúu people have overcome the challenges of a the toughest school in the world.
When traditional knowledge meets each other agricultural biodiversitya term for the adoption of farming practices that conserve and enrich nature while contributing to long-term resilience and food security, an important ally is emerging: a variety of cowpea unique, kapeshuna beans, also known as Guajiro beans.
“Guajiro beans are as chewy as the Wayúu,” said Manuel Montiel, from the village of Ipasharrain in the middle of La Guajira, Colombia. “It actually gets stronger as you step on it.”
Manuel Montiel of the Wayúu community in the village of Ipasharrain, Colombia, says the hardy Guajiro bean only takes 45 to 50 days to grow.
Ancestral star composition
Home to more than 600,000 people, La Guajira is the ancestral homeland of the Wayúu people, stretching nearly 21,000 square kilometers through dry forests and desert dunes across the northernmost tip of the continent bordering Colombia and Venezuela. This is also a place where food is difficult to grow amid droughts, floods, intense sunlight, strong winds, scarce rainfall, few water sources and year-round temperatures ranging from 35 to 40°C.
Striding through the green fields of Ipasharrain, Mr. Montiel boldly stepped up the rows of green, brown and purple trees, stopped to carefully pick a handful of beans and gave them to his sister, wife and daughter, who along with others Other women prepare typical dishes of this land. The pulse is as flexible as the star component.
As a snack, main dish or appetizer, Guajiro has it all. Sharing recipes at Ipasharrain’s communal kitchen, Ana Griselda Gonzalez said these beans can be eaten in many ways, including raw or processed into dishes such as shapulanaa hearty soup made with goat fat and yellow corn, or her favorite, cooked in a shell and combined with goat cheese.
“It fed my ancestors, and even when things were bad, Guajiro beans were still our main source of food,” she said, referring to the catastrophic effects of climate change that have happening in the area.
In the village of Ipasharrain in Colombia, Ana Griselda Gonzalez explains how to roast Guajiro beans and eat them as a snack.
Centuries of food security have been disrupted
Two decades ago, climate change disrupted centuries of food security for the Wayúu people when the predictable rhythms of the wet and dry seasons were halted by the emergence of El Niño and El Niña together. other climatic factors due to temperature changes.
A devastating drought ravaged La Guajira from 2012 to 2016, eroding the livelihoods of more than 900,000 residents, including about 450,000 Wayúu people. Malnutrition, illness and child death spread, agriculture withered and native seeds were lost. A staggering 60% of livestock died, breaking the backbone of the Wayúu economy.
“Twenty years ago, when we knew when the rain would come, we would save fodder for the cattle and it would last until the following winter,” Mr. Montiel said. “But now, animals in other communities are dying because plants start to wither prematurely and the rain doesn’t come as expected.”
Aerial photo of cropland in the village of Ipasharrain, Colombia, supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners.
From desert to oasis
Now, communities like Ipaharrain are turning desert areas into oases with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners. In addition, Wayúu’s resilient traditional practices and techniques are being documented to be shared with countries interested in combating climate change, through a joint project with the United Nations Development Program Country (UNDP), known by its abbreviation SCALA.
So far, the results are delicious and rich. Ipaharrain has set aside half an acre of land for food production, a leafy haven maintained by clean-energy pumps and a drip irrigation system, drawing water from a revitalized underground well.
Other such oases are springing up as FAO technicians work with more than 50 communities, adapting climate-smart agricultural practices to cultural and social contexts, and acknowledges and incorporates the ancestral knowledge, consumption patterns, and historical production traditions of indigenous peoples.
Traditional knowledge meets innovation
According to Jorge Gutiérrez, coordinator of FAO’s SCALA program in Colombia, to strengthen Wayúu’s resilience to increasingly harsh climate conditions, efforts are looking for resilient solutions to the challenges climate related.
Traditional practices are now meeting new innovations through a process of trial and error that has yielded results ranging from land management to sustainable food production.
Recognizing Wayúu’s dependence on rainfall has helped optimize existing wells and create reservoirs for drip irrigation. Traditional goat farmers now use animal manure mixed with minerals, ash and water-retaining agents to enrich the soil and provide essential nutrients for local crops and seeds.
A United Nations culinary technician works with the Wayúu community in La Guajira, Colombia, demonstrating how to prepare new recipes using new ingredients they can now grow.
Agricultural biodiversity in action
These results demonstrate the power of agricultural biodiversity in action,” FAO’s Mr. Gutiérrez explained.
At the same time, some Wayúu communities added newly introduced crops such as basil, eggplant and tomatoes to their traditional gardens of beans, corn, squash and watermelon, which varied in form. Chemistry enhances food security, provides buffers against climate shocks and empowers them. Wayúu to improve their nutrition and economic well-being.
“We are reviving traditional knowledge of the land through resilient local seeds,” he said. “This community seed dialogue ensures that children in this territory, who have unfortunately experienced significant challenges in recent years, will see improvements in their nutritional and food conditions. my product.”
The new adaptation measures have even resulted in some communities having a surplus of Guajiro beans to sell or trade, Mr. Gutiérrez said, adding that ongoing efforts supported by the United Nations aims to fight hunger and leave behind a patchwork legacy of food oases across La Guajira.
“When FAO is no longer here, we will have confidence that they have the whole cycle – nutrients, seeds, seedbeds, nurseries and water management over time – on board,” Mr. Gutiérrez said. their daily lives”.
Manuel Montiel mixes some natural fertilizer made from goat manure in the village of Ipasharrain, Colombia.
‘Eating all year round’
Back in the village of Ipasharrain, Mrs. Gonzalez said goodbye before enjoying her beans.
“We are so grateful to have all this food available right now,” she said. “Before, we had to wait for rain to sow seeds or just to drink some water. Now we have well water and food all year round.”
Ms. Gonzalez and her community have also taken an important step forward in building resilience in the ongoing fight against climate change.
Read the in-depth version of the story This.
