Invasive species, health and knowledge in a tropical wetland: interdisciplinary study in Ciénaga de Santo Tomás

Abstract

The research focused on the perceptions and practices that the population around the Ciénaga de Santo Tomás (Atlantic, North of Colombia) manifests in the face of the proliferation of invasive aquatic species and their impacts on human health. La Ciénaga is part of the floodplain of the Magdalena River, the main freshwater current in the country. Its main ecosystem services correspond to artisanal fishing, agricultural irrigation and cattle grazing. Invasive aquatic plants are the main harbors for disease-transmitting mosquitoes. The migrant population of the region inhabits the banks of the swamp and uses the water directly for their supply. This article presents the results achieved through the application of a mixed inductive methodology during 2018, with which emerging forms of knowledge and management of the environment in relation to health and disease were found. At the intersection -and sometimes contradiction- between interdisciplinary scientific knowledge and local knowledge, situations of "multisespecies mobility" stand out, which allowed discussing hypotheses such as the naturalization of risk at a longer time of exposure, due to the "performance" situations encountered. Likewise, phenomena of stigmatization of Venezuelan migrants and lack of interest in the knowledge of the environment by some women interviewed were captured, all of which shows the need to relate health problems at the local level not only with knowledge, the time of living near the Ciénaga and the perception of risk, but also with issues such as insecurity in land tenure, migrant status and gender.