The forest as teacher: Peasant perspectives on environmental education and territory in contexts of deforestation in Colombian Amazon
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Keywords
Political ecology, Territory, Environmental education, Social representations, Colombian Amazon, Ecosocial governance, Complexity
Abstract
The Colombian Amazon faces socioecological tensions and convergences in which deforestation reflects political, historical, and cultural vicissitudes. In this context, the study, grounded in complex systems theory, examines the interrelationships among political ecology, territory, and environmental education, analyzing how peasant knowledge shapes ecological rationalities and ways of inhabiting the rainforest intertwined within reconciliation scenarios. Methodologically, a critical-complex mixedmethods approach was employed, integrating documentary exploration with a qualitative analysis of social representations obtained through interviews, focus groups, and working sessions involving 600 peasant and institutional actors, using axial coding and Abric’s structural model. The findings reveal epistemic tensions between institutional and peasant perspectives of the forest, as well as reciprocalities derived from epistemic pluralism and biocultural criteria. Environmental education emerges as an ecosocial governance mechanism that strengthens territorial identities and pedagogies of connection, configuring sociocognitive architectures for new Amazonian ruralities aimed at autonomy, sustainability, and environmental justice.
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Rafael Lozano Trujillo, University of the Amazon, Colombia
Veterinarian Zootechnician, PhD Candidate in Education and Environmental Culture, researching "Educational approaches for building an environmental culture." Registered teacher at the Center for Research on Andean-Amazonian Biodiversity – INBIANAM Uniamazonia, and at the Wildlife Research Group.
Alexander Velásquez Valencia, University of the Amazon, Colombia
Director of the Center for Andean-Amazonian Biodiversity Research – INBIANAM Uniamazonia, and coordinator of the Wildlife Research Group. Professor at the Faculty of Basic Sciences, Uniamazonia