Afro-Descendant Oral Tradition as a Tool for the Sustainable Biocultural Restoration of the Tropical Dry Forest, Patía Valley, Colombia

The sustainable restoration of tropical dry forest (TDF)—one of the planet’s most threatened ecosystems—is constrained by low community integration and limited cultural relevance, particularly in Afro-descendant territories, where the erosion of oral tradition and forest degradation reinforce one another. This study proposes a quantitative framework to systematize the biocultural memory embedded in oral tradition as an input for socially grounded, sustainable TDF restoration. A corpus of 401 works from the Afro-descendant community of the Patía Valley (Cauca, Colombia) was coded in a multidimensional database of 10 categories, and three indices were computed: the Biocultural Density Index (IDBC), the Biocultural Vulnerability Index (IVB), and an adaptation of Winter’s flora framework (IVBw), in a total version and a version restricted to wild/native species. The framework identifies the works of greatest biocultural density (IDBC max. = 84) and separates cultivated/introduced species of high cultural value (Limón, Yuca, Caña de azúcar), ones relevant to food sovereignty, and from wild/native species (e.g., Caña brava, Cañafístula, Guayacán, Ceiba) that constitute the restorable core. Cultural practices are the hubs of the system, traditional medicine is the most at risk of loss, and food security concentrates 43% of the flora records. These replicable tools link Afro-descendant knowledge to measurable, monitorable restoration priorities, advancing sustainable land management, biodiversity conservation and cultural sustainability.