San Basilio de Palenque Intangible assets at risk

Abstract

San Basilio de Palenque was recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2005 due to its strategic geographic location and significant cultural values, being one of the most attractive Colombian towns with more potential for tourism. These conditions imply looking and understanding San Basilio both form the inside and the outside. From within, this is a territory that has three serious problems: cultural and productive practices due to the severe drought; environmental pollution due to the absence of a waste management plan and the lack of qualified comunitary spaces for the adequate practice and development of cultural practices; situations that place the ancestral cultural heritage and spaces at risk. From the outside it is necessary to understand and interpret this territory from criteria, concepts and methodologies derived from its own nature and cultural logics. This is why the idea of systems thinking becomes the fundamental axis that defines both the analysis and evaluation methods, as well as the different criteria for the intervention of this significant territory, facing the future through adequate and responsible actions focused to its protection.