Introduction
Globally there has been an effort to protect the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of indigenous peoples around the world. These knowledge systems are vitally important to future conservation efforts. International governing bodies like the UN’s, Conference of the Parties (COP), have set in place policies that ensure indigenous voices are heard and valued. The COP oversees a treaty called the Convention on Biological Diversity. This convention acknowledges that TEKs are an essential source of information for protecting our planet’s ecosystems (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011). Beliefs regarding environmental management and land-use have led to a need for governments to respect, preserve, maintain, and promote the wider application of TEK (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011). Promotions that require approval from the relevant communities (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011).
The Yucatec Maya is an indigenous group who have been recognized for the value of their belief systems and land management practises. This paper will conduct an analysis of the group’s spiritual beliefs, particularly in relation to their environment. It will also discuss how Maya environmental policy is translated into culturally distinct land-use practises. Following this, a Canadian environmental policy will be analyzed for ways it can be enhanced by Maya land management principles. Western value systems have led to the debilitated state of the environment today, therefore old ways of knowing must be re-explored and re-evaluated.
Maya Worldview
One of the foundational aspects to understanding the worldview of a culture is to know their myths of creation. The most relevant source of knowledge on Maya beliefs is the Popol Vuh. The Popol Vuh transcribes a complex oral history (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 315). This history stretches back hundreds to thousands of years (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 315). What follows is a brief description of the Maya creation myth.
In the beginning, there was only empty sky and sea (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 316). Out of this, the gods of the sea joined those of the sky to create earth (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 316). Soon after, the mountains, plains, and trees separated from the water. To the Maya, the gods started a process they sometimes refer to as, “sowing and dawning, which includes the sowing of seeds in the earth whose sprouting will be their dawning.” (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 316). For the Maya, humans are as old as the earth itself.
Initially, humans were fashion from cornmeal mixed with water after a mystic washed her hands following the grinding of maize (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 316). This displays a clear connection between humans and the earth. Their origin myth is why maize is seen as the flesh and sustenance of the Maya (Wells & Mihok, 2009, p. 316). Creation is one of the leading backdrops of most cultural systems of belief.
Maya Spiritual Beliefs Regarding Land
To the Maya, the land is considered to be a living being and a spiritual entity. Land health is intimately linked to the food chain (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 29). Their spiritual beliefs surrounding land connects the health and well-being of plants, animals, and humans with soil health (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 29). It is thought that if plants, animals, and soils are healthy then humans should be as well (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 29). Special attention is given to the way soils are taken care of. Attention to soil quality and health is constantly evaluated with the same benchmarks used for the human body, plants, and animals (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 29). Mimicry such as this has one subtle difference: that plants, men, and animals are destined to die; land never dies, it is a spirit (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 29). Immortality means that even though the land can become degraded and useless, it still has the ability to regenerate its quality and health (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 29). This regeneration can only take place if soil conservation practises are carried out in order to replenish the land (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 30). Feeding and caring for the land can only be carried out with the help of humans and supernatural beings (Bassols & Toledo, 2005, p. 30).
Maya belief systems show the level of respect the land is given, placing its needs equal to that of humans. This reciprocity ensures humans receive the benefits they desire, reciprocity mimicking contemporary conservation practises.
Maya Resource Management
One of the most widely studied resource management tools of the Maya is the milpa. The milpa is an open field polyculture focused around maize rotating with forest vegetation in a 10 to 25-year cycle (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). This management tool is intense plant oversight nested within a complex forest system (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). The rotation of annual crops is a continuous cycle creating a resource management system that upgrades the forest using plants beneficial to humans (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). This system accelerates the rate of forest succession and builds an anthrosol (soil modified by humans) which continually increases fertility (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). After the forest has been allowed to regrow, it is burned to clear space for farming. Before this, there is a burning ceremony to ask the spirits of the Earth for a good burn. The ritual allows the farmers to plan the burn activity and share knowledge on burning techniques and safety (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). The fire creates biochar, increasing the fertility of the soil (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). Due to the widespread use and effectiveness of this practice, 95 percent of the forests in the Maya lowlands have human utility (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 46). The Yucatec Maya milpa, called the pet kot (Tall, managed tree garden), was a key element for adapting to the region’s long-term climate variability (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 47). Practising these rituals along with the use of their native language maintains the community’s identity. Above all else, Maya identity is rooted in the milpa (Frece & Poole, 2008, p. 341).
Milpa farming system. Some vegetable crops included chiles, corn, beans, and squash
The Maya, both ancient and modern, have a sacred contract of reciprocity with the supernatural world. One of these contracts is with the Animal Guardian. This spirit determines hunting quotas and appropriate hunting behaviour (Emery & Brown, 2012, p. 80). Belief in this guardian suggests there may be a link to an embedded conservation ethic (Emery & Brown, 2012, p. 80). Traditional Maya wildlife management is dynamic and promotes the conservation of species (León & Montiel, 2007). When large prey is unavailable, they diversify the prey hunted to make up for the loss of meat (León & Montiel, 2007). Even though there is a lack of regulations to control hunting in the region, overhunting and local level extinction is prevented (León & Montiel, 2007). Part of this prevention is the regional environmental conditions: long periods of flooding and limiting hunting almost exclusively to the dry season (León & Montiel, 2007). There are also a number of ideas consistent with the Maya conservation ethic. A couple of those being not to hunt pregnant females and not to hunt more animals than they should to cover basic needs (León & Montiel, 2007).
Policy Enhancement
The Ontario Environmental Protection Act (OEPA) is an environmental policy that could benefit from the use of Maya TEK. One of the ways in this can be done is by explicitly stating the protection of soil health in the act. Protecting healthy soil is, “fundamental to all agricultural systems, yet there is evidence for widespread degradation of agricultural soils in the form of erosion, loss of organic matter, contamination, compaction, increased salinity and other harms.” (Kibblewhite, Ritz, & Swift, 2008, p.685). Usually, degradation is slow and difficult to notice. In the OEPA, this emphasis on soil health is not included. When the Act does list ‘land’, it means, “surface land not enclosed in a building, land covered by water and all subsoil, or any combination or part thereof” (Government of Ontario, 1990). Though a definition of land is given and the soil is included, there are no components to the act that specifically aims to maintain the health of the soil. Integrating more Maya worldview into this act would create far more agriculturally productive soils. This is due to their worldview seeing the land as equal to oneself, creating a system of respect and stewardship of the land. The practices used by ancient Maya created soils that were twice as deep as typical soils and have a greater capacity to store water and reduce erosion (Beach et al., 2002, p.391). Being able to store more water and reduce soil erosion is a characteristic modern farms need more than ever considering the intensification of climate change.
The relationship Maya have with the land and their crops compels them to care for it with deep respect. This is done by protecting and feeding the land, reflecting their respect. One way to think of it is to feed our bodies whole foods rather than rely on nutritional supplements to achieve nutrient requirements. In the modern era, synthetic fertilizers are used because they are easier and cheaper to produce. If the natural methods of milpa production were used, agricultural yield could potentially be greater for some crops. Over time, as more and more synthetic Nitrogen and Phosphorus are put into the soil their natural concentrations actually decrease (Mulvaney, Khan & Ellsworth, 2009, p. 2297). Milpa soils on the other hand have fertility increasing as time goes on (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). One of the key factors in this is the high plant populations allowed to grow during the forest regeneration component of the cycle (Mulvaney et al., 2009, p. 2298). The greater root density produces, “a more extensive rhizosphere that stimulated mineralization through microbial activities” (Mulvaney et al, 2009, p. 2298). The detrimental impacts of synthetic fertilizers make the natural techniques used by the Maya a promising option for enhancing soil fertility. Additional to soil knowledge, the Yucatec Maya have extensive knowledge of the plants surrounding them with almost 900 names for species they use (Anderson, 2010, p. 67). This knowledge has allowed them to effectively structure the environments they call home.
Milpa farming also helps address climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is done when the controlled burns create biochar incorporated within the soil. Over time, the soil only becomes more enriched with organic matter. This enrichment allows for the sequestration of carbon into the soil (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 45). These types of soil store carbon for long periods of time and some have even been found to be stable over centuries (Nigh & Diemont, 2013, p. 52).
Conclusion
TEKs are often disregarded as unhelpful and outdated, stuck in the past. There is the assumption they are anecdotal and static, based on spiritual, not empirical beliefs. For indigenous people, the spiritual is closely intertwined with the empirical. Often, they have belief systems that promote the best practices for environmental and human health. Systems such as these are informed by a long history of interactions with their environment. These interactions make them some of the most reliable sources of information found. The Yucatec Maya are no exception to this. The Maya have been able to sustainably reshape the forests around them, serving their interests. The most notable of these land management systems is the milpa. Agricultural management tools such as the milpa have been informed by a long history of oral traditions and rituals. Along with their management tools, spiritual beliefs and their worldview have allowed them to live in equilibrium with the land. It is these land-use practices that can allow the Government of Ontario to enhance their Environmental Protection Plan. TEKs are the future of environmental protection and their integration is essential if the environment is going to thrive.
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