Antioquia: Environmental Awareness Around Ancient Trails

Abstract

Several local organizations are working to rescue, protect, and promote pre-Hispanic and mule-driving trails around the Aburrá Valley. This Trail Network is a unique and invaluable heritage that has been destroyed or abandoned due to the lack of clear, effective heritage-protection policies and adequate land-use plans. It was tied to the socioeconomic history that explains much of our past and left many traces in the collective imagination of those who have inhabited these large cities for centuries. Cultural and ecological tourism demonstrates the potential of these trails, which could drive the development of an environmental culture through sustainable tourism that ensures the conservation of the network and its associated ecosystems. Work has been underway for several years to create a trail information system, or digital atlas of trails, promoting their use and conservation, linked to an environmental information system for their proper use.