MISSION
Cascarrias is a project led by young people who aim to preserve and share the valuable natural and cultural legacy that older generations of Ablitas and other villages in the Ribera de Navarra region left us in the form of landscape, biodiversity, traditions, knowledge, and language. This project seeks to inspire reflection on various issues affecting our society and the environment, and to create new narratives through photography and art to inspire people from other places. Finally, it also seeks to generate new knowledge in order to improve our way of inhabiting the land and develop informed, fair and more inclusive policies.
Our work revolves around the concept of biocultural diversity, conceived as the variety of natural and cultural systems (including linguistic diversity), the inextricable links that exist between them, and how they have developed over time through mutual adaptation and coevolution. We also draw on conceptual frameworks such as the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) Diverse Values of Nature, which help us understand how people relate with nature, and with other people through it.
We employ a transdisciplinary approach that crosses knowledge from anthropology, biology, sociology, political ecology, and history, among others. This perspective allows us to comprehensively address a wide variety of topics such as nature, culture, society, language or food. We use a variety of research methods from literature reviews and documentary research to ethnographic interviews, participatory workshops, focus groups, and citizen science proposals that encourage active community engagement.
We also rely on creative and accessible communication tools—such as photography, documentary film, social media, and in-person activities—to share knowledge, raise awareness, and build bridges between diverse knowledge and experiences.
VISION
We aim to build a liveable territory where people (re)connect with nature and coexist in harmony with the environment. A place where biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity are valued, and more sustainable ways of life are promoted, based on collective action, care, and emotional bonds.
VALUES
- Inclusion: We seek to give voice to those who have traditionally remained invisible but still uphold traditional land management practices, as well as the experiences of a life in community and in contact with nature.
- Diversity: We advocate for the richness of an environment with a wide variety of landscapes, species of flora and fauna, ways of life, and cultural expressions as opposed to productive, cultural, and territorial homogenization. We also embrace the richness of the multiple realities of people inhabiting our place in terms of origin, gender, or sexual orientation, among others.
- Interdependence: We recognize that all living beings are interconnected and mutually sustain each other, and therefore human beings depend on the balance of ecosystems for survival. We must abandon individualistic and extractivist logic to promote respect and co-responsibility for the planet.
- Care: We focus on the sustainability of life through taking care of each other and the environment, breaking with the prevailing logic of domination and utility of nature.