Collective protection of bio-cultural heritage as a guarantee of the resilience of the socio-ecological systems of the peoples in the state of Mexico

Abstract

The international canon for the recognition of the heritage of indigenous peoples in the last decade and a half has been structured from three converging spheres: business, academic and legal. The efforts of indigenous peoples to insert themselves in the decision-making processes have been fruitful, achieving the establishment of a special committee for the discussion of Article 8j of the CBD. However, as the years of negotiation go by, the uncertainty of the viability of the agreements increases, because the peoples are not adequately preparing to take advantage of the guarantees granted. It has been proven that, when traditional practices of safeguarding biocultural heritage are maintained within a people, the resilience of the socio-ecological system is greater, being able to respond to different crises without putting its integrity and identity at risk. The problem detected is that additional factors such as local climate change have reduced the availability of water, of appropriable fauna and flora in situ, of basic foods and of money. This affects the capacity of the peoples to maintain such safeguarding practices, which is detrimental to a sustainable adaptive response. The UI model requires the practice of dialogic, participatory and co-responsible research, in order to detect the weaknesses of the socio-ecological systems and design strategies to address the problems, in order to guarantee internal resilience. The greatest challenge facing the UIEM is to achieve, with the IMPI, that aspects of the heritage of the peoples of the entity are recorded in a collective manner.