Sustainability from an intercultural perspective

dialogue with the ancestral peoples of Abya Yala

Abstract

Unsustainability seems to be the way in which humanity is heading. In the face of this global perspective, Sustainability is a concept and a practice that has several confronting interpretations: scientists focus on the ecological limits imposed by the biosphere; the promoters of the sustainable development current try to make economic growth compatible with environmental conservation; and the anti-systemic perspectives seek alternatives that put life at the center instead of economic growth. Amid this scenario, the worldview, practices, struggles and resistances of native peoples, expressed in their daily relationship with nature in community life or in active struggles against extractivism, show us that sustainability, more than a theory or civilizational discourse, is their way of life, supported by their culture and community. This article arises from a qualitative research that, through the testimonies of 12 leaders of 10 native peoples of Abya Yala located in 7 countries, reconstructs their vision of the territory, their ways of life in community, the external threats, the repertoires and strategies to face these threats and, above all, the lessons that these ancestral peoples can give us about the sustainability of life in all its forms.