According to the four indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM), it is in the high valleys of the mountain range, beneath the snow-capped peaks – which are regarded as living beings – that the places from which life originates and the laws that govern it are found. But as a result of global warming, the last remaining glaciers are disappearing. The consequences of this are disastrous, both for the region and for the world, such is the importance of the regulatory role played by this mountain, situated directly above the Caribbean Sea. According to the Kogi people, they are particularly disastrous for the great balances of their sacred mountain and its inhabitants, for water is the source of life.

By Lise Fabbro

‘Water is like our spirit’

According to the four indigenous peoples of the SNSM (Joint Declaration, CTC, 2003): ‘Water is like our spirit, for it never changes in essence, even though it takes many forms: clouds, lakes and rivers, dew on the trees, moisture in the environment. In the realm of its many manifestations, the essence of our spirit remains unchanged. Our Law is the law of water, the law of the sun, the law of lightning. It admits of no reforms, it knows no decrees, it accepts neither constitutions nor policies, for our law—the one that governs life—remains ever the same throughout time. For harmony to return to our lives, it is necessary that the laws created by humans respect and conform to the law of origin, the natural law, the law that enables life, the supreme law with which the Mamas work’.

“Our origin, that of life, is the water bubble”

In a text produced as part of a collective project on the management of water resources in the Guatapuri River, the following information is found: “Jaba Nimekun is said to be a feminine principle of water management and the rules that must be implemented to sustain it on a spiritual level. This is why, in the Koguian, Iku, Dumana and Kankuama languages, water represents women. ’ In their spiritual conception of life, the peoples of the Sierra Nevada maintain that ‘the origin of life is the water bubble; this is why our life, as human beings, is born from the bubble – the mother’s womb. This is also why the Mamas’ consultations are conducted using the Yatukua, a calabash filled with water, whose bubbles—their shapes and densities—enable the Mamas’ work of interpretation and divination. ‘When a girl becomes a woman, as she matures, the rivers are spiritually cleansed and the water of the catchment area retains and preserves its spirit’.

Shikwakala, the weaving of Mother Earth

These quotations are taken from the anthology *Shikwakala. El crujido de la Madre Tierra* (OGT, the representative organisation of the Kogi people, 2018). A book dictated by the Mamas and Sagas Kaggabas, conceived as an educational endeavour designed to help us understand their thinking and their cosmovision. Thanks to these writings, we are able to glimpse fragments of their conception of water:
‘Ñi is water. Ñinuglan is all the water that exists, both visible and invisible. Tukwashizha is the natural path of water; it comprises both underground and surface watercourses. All the water that exists in the world comes from Sé, from the Mother. It is born as Aluna Ñinuglan, water in thought and in spirit, within which lies the essence that enables water to form, whilst at the same time providing the energy that nourishes and sustains it. It is from there that water is sown and its path begins – Tukwashizha. Jaba Kwan is the Mother who enables water to unfold. Knowledge of the principles of water, its types, its cycles linked to the cycles of the sun, the energy of water, the winds, the rains, and the connections and links with the mountains—from the paramos (high-altitude moorlands) to the beaches and oceans; all this forms part of the fabric that underpins the order of things, the organisation of the land and its ancestral methods of management. The organisation, structure and function of all waters are established according to the laws and principles communicated by sacred places and spaces. ’
He went on to say: ‘In wells, marshes, streams and other small watercourses, water in all its forms is sacred; one must not alter it, interrupt its flow, drain it dry or use it without knowing its original function. For water, in its various forms, has a function.” Functions that can be determined by the ‘colours’ of the water. – ‘There are red-coloured marshes. Their function is to cure illnesses, ensure the prosperity of seeds, young livestock and reproduction, and prevent haemorrhages. Other waters are green. Sometimes they smell bad; people and animals must not drink this water. It is used solely to remove negativity from people, crops and all living things, to make amends when crops are contaminated, and to cleanse nature. They are very important and must not be drained. Black water is the water we cannot see; it springs from the depths of the earth. Sometimes it can rise to the surface, and we then see it as clean, but it is not drinkable. This water serves to connect and transmit energy. We also know where to find white water – the water that
springs from primordial places and is safe to drink. There are also places where the water is yellow.’

The sixth planetary boundary has been crossed: the freshwater cycle

The Kogi’s knowledge of water could prove invaluable to us at a time when, as we know, a new planetary boundary has just been crossed. It concerns the freshwater cycle (Stockholm Resilience Centre). Until 2022, this planetary boundary only took ‘blue water’ (rivers, lakes and groundwater) into account. In their calculations, scientists included everything that was evaporated, absorbed or transpired by plants. This is what scientists call ‘green water’, which returns directly to the atmosphere. It accounts for 60 per cent of the mass of precipitation, compared with 40 per cent for blue water. This water enables us to study freshwater cycles virtually. Today, scientists are sounding the alarm. There is an urgent need to change the way we use water, as this has a profound impact on the water cycle and alters its ‘structure’.

In the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, water lies at the heart of conflicts

Colombia, and more specifically the north-east of the country, has significant freshwater reserves. These reserves consist mainly of the Sierra’s perpetual snows and the 35 rivers that rise around the mountain range. Sacred to some, a commodity to others, water lies at the heart of these conflicts. In the Sierra, it is threatened by mining projects, natural resource extraction schemes, and the water demands of numerous businesses situated in the foothills of the mountain range (livestock farming, palm oil, banana plantations, industrial production, electricity, etc.) which are over-extracting groundwater. Today, reserves are running dry and groundwater is contaminated.

The Wiwa people, together with the Tchendukua, are protecting the water sources

For the communities of the Sierra, access to water is becoming a real problem. So what can be done? Pump the water? Bring it in by tanker? Or preserve and look after
the few remaining resources available? This is the dilemma facing the Wiwa people, who live on the southern slopes, which are drier and more desert-like. The community has appealed to the Colombian courts to ensure that their right to water is respected. However, the solutions proposed by Colombian institutions, such as the installation of pipework or the drilling of deep wells, are long-term measures, the feasibility and cultural acceptance of which are not guaranteed. In partnership with Tchendukua, the Wiwa people have decided to pursue a different course of action. Drawing on their ancestral knowledge of the watercourses in their catchment areas, they are trying to preserve and nurture the remaining resources before it is too late. If water is the source of life, should we not do everything we can to preserve it?

Photo © Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta / Tchendukua – Ici et Ailleurs.
Article published in Tchendukua’s annual newsletter in 2022.