South America

Information on TEK has been organized by country. To see who has used TEK and how it has been used, please click on the following pages to access examples:


Argentina
Brazil
Ecuador
Paraguay
Peru
Venezuela


These articles involve more than one country:

Indigenous knowledge networks in the face of global change
By: Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, Miguel A. Fortuna, and Jordi Bascompte
PNAS
2019
Key words: South America, biodiversity, indigenous language, neotropical, Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador
https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/20/9913.full.pdf
This article discusses how indigenous knowledge networks are changing with environmental changes. They worked with indigenous groups found in northern South America that inhabited neotropical environments comparing their plant knowledge with other indigenous groups of the area. The main goal of this article was to understand how multiple interpretations of the ecosystem can help understand biodiversity as well as cultural diversity.

From fire suppression to fire management: advances and resistances to changes in fire policy in the savannas of Brazil and Venezuela
By: Ludivine Eloy Costa Pereira, Bibiana Bilbao, Jayalaxshmi Mistry, Isabel B. Schmidt
April 10, 2018
The Geographical Journal
Keywords: Cerrado, fire-prone ecosystems, Gran Sabana, cultural use of fire, savanna, grasslands management, Brazil, Venezuela
https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/files/28888954/Geographical_Journal_2017_Author_Final_Version.pdf
Discusses fire management in South American grasslands, focusing on implementing fire regimes from traditional ecological knowledge. Includes case studies from Venezuela and Brazil. Identifies areas of resistance to implementation of new policies.

Landscapes with Araucaria in South America: evidence for a cultural dimension
By: Maurício Sedrez dos Reis, Ana Ladio, and Nivaldo Peroni
Ecology and Society
2014
Key words: Mapuche-Pehuenche people, Andes, south–central Chile, Argentina, pre-Columbian, Kaingang people, southern Brazil, trees, Araucaria, harvesting, legal framework
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262825946_Landscapes_with_Araucaria_in_South_America_Evidence_for_a_cultural_dimension
Araucaria is a tree that produces nut-like seeds that are culturally important to indigenous people across Chile, Argentina and Brazil. In these countries, there are barriers to establishing co-management of resources due to legal frameworks—yet Araucaria trees are in decline in many conservation areas. The author notes that the many species of Araucaria were actively cultivated by indigenous peoples for millennia and in the areas where traditional harvesting takes places, the trees thrive. The author calls for a partnership between land managers and traditional peoples for the revitalization of these important trees.


Last updated: June 30, 2023