摘要：The Camëntsá and Inga indigenous communities of the Sibundoy Valley, in the Colombianprovince of Putumayo, employ agroforestry systems for their livelihoods. The objectives of thisenquiry are (1) to understand the importance of the biodiversity within agroforestry systems, asproviders of provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services to indigenous householdsand (2) to assess the importance of protecting biodiversity through agroforestry systems toensure food security. The study employed a qualitative research strategy involving participantobservation and semi-structured interviews. It describes the ecosystem services delivered withinthe agroforestry systems and the uses given by the communities to their related biodiversity. Atotal of 21 uses were identified for 128 species. The provision of food, natural medicine andbiochemicals, fuel, and fibres was the most important final services derived from that biodiversity. Additionally regulating and cultural ecosystem services accounted for almost one-third ofthe total uses of the species. Based on its findings, the study highlights the need to maintainboth the agroforestry systems and their biodiversity to ensure the delivery of all three ecosystemservices and the communities’ food security and livelihoods.
