By Dr Paul Roberts | Director of Research & Organizational Development
We are aware that, as well as doing campaigning and capacity-building work with our indigenous partners in the area of eco-social justice, it is important to work with them to create alternative forms of economy - what is known in Spanish as ‘la economia solidaria’ (the economy of solidarity) or ‘la economia indígena’ (the indigenous economy) - that are based on harmonious, sustainable relationships with their natural resources and with one another as community members.
We have already begun this work in the community of Santa Clara where our permaculture project is being extended to cultivate medicinal plants and trees that can, in the future, be sold to local, national and international markets.
With this in mind, we have in the last three months begun a project on the indigenous economy.
This is with a view to developing new and potentially innovative forms of economic activity within communities that will help to construct a new paradigm of an indigenous economy that can coexist with but offer an alternative to community members needing to see employment away from their families and/or in extractive industries
The first part of this project is to research the indigenous economy, including its foundations in the Shipibo cosmovision, and to investigate and promote examples in the two Shipibo communities of Calleria and Nueva Saposoa where this is already happening:
We will keep you informed about the progress of this important project in future updates.
By Dr Paul Roberts | Director Intercultural Education
By Tom Younger | Ecosocial Justice Program Coordinator
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