10%

ANOTHER KIND OF WEALTH: ANCESTRAL CULTURE

September 8^th, 2016

Write your story here. (Optional)

ANOTHER KIND OF WEALTH: ANCESTRAL CULTURE

In the place where the Pemón people live, great table-top mountains tower above the rich green valley. In Pemón folklore, these mountains, called “tepui,” are home to the gods.

At Auyantepui mountain, a powerful stream of water tumbles nearly one thousand meters down the sheer vertical face.

This is Kerepakupai Meru, which in the Pemón language means “waterfall of the deepest place.” In Spanish, it is simply “Salto Ángel,” or Angel Falls. It is the world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall.

No matter the language, it’s easy to understand why the landscape here is imbued with sacred meaning. It also contains tremendous material value—mines of gold, diamond, coltan, and other precious minerals.

But the Pemón people have a valuable resource of their own: their way of life. And they’re putting it to use in a particular patch of land in modern-day Venezuela. This is the Valley of Kamarata, where Angel Falls is located, in Canaima National Park. It is home to some 6,000 Pemón people living in such villages as Uruyén, Kavac, Kamarata, Kamadac, and Santa Marta. Here, the old ways mix with the new, and some traditional beliefs still survive, even as most Pemón were long ago converted to Catholicism. Many people are dedicated to agriculture and fishing.

Back in 1984, people got the idea of building a camp where tourists could visit and learn about local land and culture. “My father was the founder of the camp,” says Victorino Carballo, who is now president of the first ecotourism camp built in Uruyén.

“The camp is an instrument to preserve the environment and the wellbeing of the local people,” he says. “Tourism helps the community [with jobs and income], and it also safeguards our identity as an indigenous community.”

Other camps followed in later years. The revenue from tourism is administered by local councils to improve the community’s health, education, and physical environment.

With help from UNDP, through the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environment Fund, the ecotourism business has gotten a boost. The project has upgraded the physical infrastructure in the camps, encouraged collaboration among the camps, and promoted sustainable agriculture and fishing—which adds to its ecotourism appeal.

The results: the local economy is stronger, life on land is protected, natural resources are consumed more responsibly, and the Pemón culture is valued.

Hortensia Berti is head of the Kavak-Lodge camp, also supported by the UNDP project. “When UNDP and the GEF Small Grants Programme arrived, we were very happy, because this project involves the whole community.” “We need to explore the ‘gold and diamond’ of our region,” she adds.

She is speaking metaphorically. This is the gold mine that she wants to tap: the Pemón people’s age-old culture, which has the power to attract visitors from around the world, and which values land and water and life.