|
 The new WDCS-funded interpretation center
in the heart of the Colombian Amazon has been christened by the
local Ticuna Indian community as ‘Natütama’ which means ‘everything
under the water’.
The Amazon flooded forest is home to an extraordinarily rich variety
of unusual animals and plants including river dolphins, manatees,
caimans, anacondas, turtles, giant pirarucu fish, and piranhas.
The Amazon ecosystem is precious and unique and is very much in
the hands of the people and communities that live there. So, our
long term project aims to empower local educators, fishermen,
children and other members of the community to work together and
come up with solutions to problems and issues.
Wildlife-related environmental problems include conflicts between
fishermen and Amazon river dolphins, over-exploitation of fish,
manatees, turtles and other species, and the effect of growing
boat traffic on habitat.
The Natutama Foundation is made up of the founders - Sarita Kendall,
Diana Luz Orozco and Ximena Torres and local fishermen (the Airuwe
group) and young teenage educators (the Selvando group). The Foundation
facilitates the combination of local environmental and western
scientific knowledge to encourage biodiversity conservation and
resource management.
At the same time, Airuwe and Selvando group members are becoming
local role models for the children and share their cultural and
environmental knowledge with them. This way local environmental
knowledge is passed on to the next generation and research and
conservation projects reflect community concerns.
The Selvando group continues to go from strength to strength.
They have visited all pre-school and primary school classes (ages
3 – 12). One of this year’s goals was to take the children out
of the classroom more regularly. Outings have included field trips
to look for plants and insects, visits to the National Park and
a monkey rehabilitation house, and involvement with the turtle
nest protection work.
 This year, with WDCS funding, the Selvando
and the Airwe group members have created the Natutama Interpretation
Center from scratch. The building has been constructed using local
materials and traditional building techniques. Inside the underwater
world of the Amazon is represented through life-sized exhibits,
nearly all of them carved from wood and painted by the local community.
The production of the individual exhibits has brought everyone
together since constant consultation between fishermen, educators
and craftspeople was needed to ensure that the size, shape, colour
and context of each animal or plant species was correct.
The Center opened for the first time in December 2005 and now
provides a fantastic base for community education and conservation
and will also be open to visitors. Visitors to the center (including
schools from Colombian cities and foreign tourists) will be encouraged
to learn and to reflect on the environmental importance of the
Amazon water world and establish an ongoing relationship by becoming
friends of Natütama.
The Natutama Foundation will now continue to develop the Center
including at least one further module and continuing to improve
the exhibits.
Source: WDCS
|
