Copyright © 2019 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. Fonseca-Cepeda, V., C. J. Idrobo, and S. Restrepo. 2019. The changing chagras: traditional ecological knowledge transformations in the Colombian Amazon. Ecology and Society 24(1):8. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10416-240108 Research, part of a Special Feature on Seeking sustainable pathways for land use in Latin America The changing chagras: traditional ecological knowledge transformations in the Colombian Amazon Valentina Fonseca-Cepeda 1 , C. Julián Idrobo 2 and Sebastián Restrepo 3 ABSTRACT. Shifting agriculture systems in the Colombian Amazon, locally known as chagras, have been traditionally managed by indigenous peoples following their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). However, different socioeconomic drivers of change are affecting indigenous chagra TEK, resulting in changes in practices and land-use patterns. This study examines TEK transformations from 1970 to 2016 and their relation to rainforest management in the Ticuna indigenous resguardo of El Vergel (Leticia Municipality, Amazonas Department). It employs an ethnographic case study design that articulates quantitative data on land-use variables related to chagras and qualitative ethnographic data describing dimensions of TEK and its perceived transformations, including knowledge of the environment, practices and management systems, social institutions, and worldviews. Our findings reveal that TEK transformations entail changes in land-use, including size of production area, temporality of land-use, and cultivated diversity. This study contributes to a reinterpretation of TEK transformations and emphasizes the importance of the chagra as an adaptive system. The TEK transformations related to chagras imply a constant reattunement of relations that bind people and their environments. Rather than being frozen in an ethnographic past, people have responded to social and economic drivers to meet their current needs and aspirations. Likewise, understanding TEK transformations and their relation to changes in land-use practices provides relevant insights about social-ecological dynamics in the Amazon rainforest to navigate change and provide the basis for a discussion of how to enrich management decisions to move toward sustainability in tropical forests. Key Words: Amazon rainforest; chagra; Colombia; indigenous people; land use; traditional ecological knowledge INTRODUCTION Globalization processes have affected the Amazon region over many centuries, dramatically changing its ecology and the ways of life of its inhabitants (Laurance et al. 2011, Gómez 2015). The Ticuna indigenous people have inhabited this region for centuries and have experienced, responded, and adapted to profound changes brought about by colonialism and associated agroindustrial development, deforestation, loss of autonomy, and violence (Franco 1992, Ullán 2000). The chagra, a shifting agriculture system, has been practiced since pre-Columbian times by the Ticuna. However, this system has not remained static. Ticuna management systems and associated traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) have transformed in response to the changing socioeconomic contexts in which their ways of life are embedded. These transformations express actors’ capacity to define and create new configurations of knowledge and practice, responding to driving forces (Walker et al. 2004). Socioeconomic (SE) drivers of change are rooted in economic dynamics and are strongly related to government programs, laws, and policies (Bürgi et al. 2004). We examined processes of TEK transformation and production in the context of a Ticuna indigenous community’s relationships with the chagra in the Colombian Amazon. Understanding how TEK changes in relation to local manifestations of globalization and other SE drivers of change provides insights about the adaptation of social-ecological systems. By employing Berkes et al.’s (2000) knowledge-practice-belief framework, we traced the drivers of change underlying TEK transformations and their effects in human-environment relations in El Vergel. Berkes et al. (2000:1252) defined TEK as “a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationships of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their environment.” Starting with the premise that TEK is dynamic and provides tools to navigate change, we analyzed the factors that underlie changes in land-use patterns in the Amazon. In doing so, we contribute to the discussion in this Special Issue and elsewhere surrounding how indigenous and local people manage change and the quest for sustainable pathways for transformation in the Amazon region. In the last sixty years, we have experienced ecological transformations of unprecedented scale, rate, and intensity around the globe (Ellis 2015). Land-use changes have altered the structure and functioning of ecosystems, including their ability to provide key services for human well-being (MEA 2003, Ramankutty et al. 2008, Lambin and Meyfroidt 2010). In the tropics, the expansion of the capitalist agricultural frontier, road development, and timber extraction have led to widespread deforestation, and habitat and biodiversity loss (Lambin et al. 2001, Foley et al. 2005). During the 1990s, natural forests decreased by 16.1 million hectares per year at the global level and by 15.2 million hectares in tropical regions (Lambin et al. 2003). In turn, these changes are associated with the loss of natural resource-based livelihoods, affecting local peoples’ social and cultural capital (van Vliet et al. 2012, 2013), in which indigenous peoples have been particularly affected because of their close relationship with their local environment. Shifting agriculture remains the most common productive practice in the Amazon region utilized by most of the rural population (Coomes et al. 2000, Padoch and Pinedo-Vásquez 2010, Junqueira et al. 2016). Nevertheless, integration to markets, implementation of biodiversity conservation strategies, mechanization of agriculture, access to formal education, 1 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia, 2 Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre Desarrollo, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, 3 Departamento de Desarrollo Rural y Regional, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia