The Inirida flower, a gift to the world immortalized at COP16: story revealed

"This thing I have in my hands will stay with me forever because it is eternal," said a 27-year-old woman at the symphony concert minutes after the COP16 opening ceremony ended at the Pacific Valley Events Center. In her right hand she held a green stem about 30 centimeters long with a flower that looked like a red pyramid with white tips.

It was the flower of Inírida. About 1,700 of them were left on the seats of those who entered the Amazonia Hall on Sunday night, in the Blue Zone. There were representatives of the indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as official delegates from countries and journalists from all latitudes.

The flower was chosen as the official logo of the conference. "It's the first time a plant has been the image of a COP on Biodiversity," says Vanessa Vergara, the designer responsible for capturing it in every corner of the venue.

"We didn't know it looked like this, it's something small that changes, but that lives and teaches us how precious and mystical the Earth is," the African continues.

The flower's mysticism stems from the symbolic charge it has held since ancient times for the indigenous communities of Guainía and the Amazon jungle, and from the way it grows. The sandy, acidic and humid soils of the savannas and morichales of eastern Colombia, known as underwater paradises, are the place where it grows.

It is paradoxical because the ecosystem is fragile and changes throughout the year. Not all species survive there. Their strong and long stems are the result of years of adaptation to withstand extreme floods and droughts, which means they do not lose their structure.

                                                                        ***

Two days before the opening, 956 kilometers away, Martha Toledo coordinated the shipment of five dozen flowers from Inírida for the event. At the request of the organizers, she had to make an additional shipment to ensure that all the guests had them.

She is the legal representative and coordinator of Akayú, an environmental association founded in 2002 to work with communities in Guainía to grow and export the flower.

"We were not the first to grow it, but we were the pioneers in doing it well and without harming the ecosystem. Before, there were people who tried to plant everywhere and uproot the vegetation," says the woman.

This association is the only one that has the environmental permits to produce them. In 2010, they founded Liwi, as it is called in Curripako, as an organized platform for sustainable trade and biodiversity protection in the area.

Her husband, the crop coordinator, is a member of the Baniva (or Curripako), an indigenous community that predominates in the jungles of the Colombia-Venezuela border.

"It was a challenge to have this plantation. This ecosystem only exists on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, where the Amazon, the Orinoquia and the Guiana Shield meet. These are endemic plants that grow in very poor soils that are hostile to common plants," he says.

Old stones predominate in this area. Not surprisingly, one of the main attractions is the Mavecure Hills. During the dry season, from November to May, a type of flower grows, the summer flower (Schoenocephalium teretifolium), which can withstand the high temperatures. It has a small and spherical inflorescence (stem branches). Between June and October, there is the winter flower (Guacamaya superba), with a larger inflorescence and pyramidal shape, and can measure up to 1.8 meters.

                                                                        ***

A word that Minister Muhamad and President Gustavo Petro emphasized in their opening speeches at COP16 was "eternity," a concept linked to the fact that once cut, it is transformed into a kind of living craft that does not die, dries, turns brown, and lasts forever. But it is also linked to indigenous cosmogony. 

In the region, for the Puinave people, this plant is positioned as a symbol of eternal love and unconditionality, attributes that come from the story of Desikoira, which translates as "perfumed woman". According to the legend, a beautiful native princess could not consolidate her forbidden love and had to marry another being to maintain the stability of her kingdom. Faced with this burden, the subject used a pusana, a liquid extracted from herbs, to try to make her fall in love.

"This is a potion that is sometimes good and sometimes bad, only the grandparents know how to use it," says Rogelio Perez, a member of the village.

"For us, the plant is the best example of courage, and that is how we teach it. It is a reflection of life itself and the goodness of existence," adds Pérez.

According to botanists, the place where the Inírida flower is found can be catalogued as an "island of nutrients". While there is no direct relationship with other flowers or trees, there is a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms and the blue-tailed hummingbird, its main pollinator. "It is the key to the food web," says Darío Esteban Carianil, researcher and logistics manager at Liwi.

Those who seek to preserve it are trying to promote sustainable development in the region. "An indigenous ecosystem can be responsibly conserved through ancestral knowledge," says Martha Toledo.

DAVID ALEJANDRO LÓPEZ BERMÚDEZ

EL TIEMPO Special Envoy

Cali

In social media: @lopez03david