Indigenous Colombians Fret As Sacred Mountain Glaciers Melt

AFP/APP

Pueblo Bello, Colombia: In the shade of a sacred tree, Indigenous wise men chew coca leaves as they mull the threats to their home among the melting, snow-capped peaks of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountains.

As a “consequence of man’s actions, it is slowly warming, more every year,” one of the men says in the Iku language, according to a translator, at a meeting of dozens of Indigenous people from different communities.

The inhabitants of the Sierra Nevada range in north Colombia believe it is the center of the universe, its rivers, stones and plants part of one living body. They see it as their job to protect its balance.

In 2022, UNESCO recognized the ancient knowledge of the area’s four Indigenous groups as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage, and essential to caring for “mother nature, humanity and the planet.”

But here in Earth’s highest coastal mountain system, 5,775 meters (19,000 feet) above sea level, the natural harmony they prize is being disrupted as record heat waves melt the glacial peaks and ruin their crops.

In a form of active meditation, the Arhuaco spiritual leaders or “mamos” place a wooden stick in their mouths before removing it and rubbing it around a gourd — transferring their thoughts to the hollowed-out fruit.

“We are here to live in peace, in harmony. Believing otherwise leads to global warming,” one Indigenous leader says.

“Man is going to end himself because of his own inventions, believing himself to be very intelligent.”

Of the 14 tropical glaciers that existed in Colombia at the beginning of the 20th century, only six remain, according to official data.