COMMUNITY-BASED LAND ADMINISTRATION FOR INDIGENOUS GROUPS AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR POVERTY REDUCTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. CASE STUDY: MITÚ-VAUPÉS, COLOMBIA

Álvaro Rojas Ferreira Civil & Industrial Engineer Universidad de los AndesDaniel Paéz BarajasPhD of Engineering, University of Melbourne

Table of contentsIntroduction Context Goals Approach

Concepts of land

The government

The indigenous communities

Previous cases

Darién, Panamá

Mitú, Colombia

The methodology The 5 steps

Field Work Specifics Results

Conclusions Conclusions Recommendations

Additional research

Context Methodology Preliminary results

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT

Almost 1/3 of Colombian territory is recognized as Indigenous Reservation where less than 3.28% of the population lives

(SIGOT, 2005) (IGAC, 2014)

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT

Indigenous communities live in poverty conditions on they great majority

(DANE, 2005) (INVÍAS, 2010)

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT

Vaupés region is inhabited by more than 42000 natives coming mainly from the Tucano family.

(Consultorías Integrales SA, 2013)

Urban Rural

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT

The life spam of natives in Vaupés region is a lot shorter than in the rest of the country. Less people arrive to elder ages.

(Consultorías Integrales SA, 2013)

(DANE, 2010)

Men Women

Women

Men

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT

The cadastral information for indigenous reservations is almost non existent, especially in rural areas.

(IGAC, 2013)

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXTRisks of invasion in Vaupés Region can be classified by source into 2

Sources of invasion of Indigenous territories

Legal

- Infrastructure projects- Mining projects

Illegal

- Drug Crops- Mining exploitations

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXTNo major infrastructure projects are planned for connecting indigenous communities in the Vaupés Region with the economic center of the country

(ANI, 2013)

INTRODUCTION - CONTEXT

A very high mining potential is recognized by the government but mining legal means have proven insufficient to regulate it

(SINCHI, 2012)

(Consultorías Integrales SA, 2013)

Requests of mining licenses

Approved mining licenses

A CLAS Methodology for

Indigenous Groups should

aim:

To identify, geo-reference and sketch the resources, cadastral

boundaries and land uses of the region

To incorporate the relevant

legal framework

To reflect the cultural relationship between the communities and

their land

To increase general understanding on

communities’ approach to land administration

To incorporate the state of art

in the field

INTRODUCTION - GOALSProcesses the recording and disseminating information about ownership, value, and use of land, when implementing land management and development policies (UNECE,1996).

INTRODUCTION - APPROACH

2 steps process for developing the methodology

• State of art• Previous cases• Specifics of the

communitiesTheoretical

• Try a preliminary questionnaire

• Geo-reference most significant points

• Draft a map

Fieldwork

CONCEPTS OF LAND - THE GOVERNMENT

Colombia has had a very slow legal evolution in respect to indigenous land administration.

1991 1993 1997 2000 2011 2014

• National Constitution – Article 329

• Addition to ILO Convention 169 – Law 21/1991

Law 1809 / 1993

Law 388 / 1997

Sentence C-729 of 2000 from the Constitutional Court

Law 1454 of 2011 - Organic law on territorial planning (LOOT)

Decree 1953/2014

CONCEPTS OF LAND - THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

The territory is physical and mythical, and expresses the place where life comes from; it has to do with the cosmos and with the social and natural relationships. This expression of the territory is not ideological; on the contrary, it is social and concrete, and its explanation evolves according to each new relationship for which rituals and the myths change: From a general point of view the social relations materialize, to begin with, in the space. And it seems logical that this ends up as a fundamental factor of the ethnic group identity: the territory. (Peña Márquez, 2011)

PREVIOUS CASES – DARIÉN, PANAMÁDoctor Herlihy’s 3 workshops methodology

• Train surveyors: Strategies to inquire on geography, land use and mores.

Workshop 1

• Transform the accumulated data into cartographic and tabulated form

Workshop 2 • Share results with the communities.

• Receive appropriate feedback

Workshop 3

PREVIOUS CASES – DARIÉN, PANAMADoctor Herlihy’s 3 workshops methodology

Elements of the questionnaire 1) Subsistence as resource-use locations

(where villagers farm, fish and hunt), collect forest material locations (fruit, wood, medicine plants, etc), and social areas as meeting houses or commercial areas for sales and trade;

2) Landmark as compass directions and limits and boundaries; and

3) Census as gender, age and primary language

Ideal surveyor:1) Native and resident of their survey

zone;2) Able to read and write in Spanish; 3) Respected among the local

population; and 4) Knowledgeable on the natural

environments used by the communities in question

PREVIOUS CASES – MITÚ, COLOMBIA Professor Peña Marquez public consultation in the urban Mitú

(Google Maps)

(Peña Márquez, 2011)

PREVIOUS CASES – MITÚ, COLOMBIA Professor Peña Marquez public consultation in the rural Mitú

(Google Maps)

(Peña Márquez, 2011)

THE METHODOLOGY – THE 5 STEPSProfessor Peña Marquez public consultation in the urban Mitú

• Design a schedule• Identify resources

needed

Planning

• Present the questionnaire

• Simulate situations

Training surveyors

Surveyors collect the information

• Geo-reference major points.

• Draw identified borders.

Mapping

• Define undiscussed borders

• Establish shared areas

Discussing

• Present outcome• Present poverty

reduction opportunities

Presenting

FIELDWORK – ESPECIFICS3 communities were tested for the study, living under semi-urban conditions

The native inhabitants come from the Cubeo

family Gender segregated culture

Agricultural based economy

Very open view for western mores, including a high level of spoken and an intermediate level of

written Spanish by most of its members.

Several territories are shared with settlers.

The interaction between “whites” and aboriginals and the geographical closeness to urban areas has an effect on

the future aspirations on young native generations.

FIELDWORK – RESULTS

FIELDWORK – RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

The methodology proposed organizes the process of collecting land information from the indigenous groups while formalizing their oral agreements.

The questionnaire tested proved itself insufficient as the natives could not locate their resources, their boundaries or even their crops on a map designed for nonindigenous communities to understand.

The whole methodology is still considered adequate for the intentions of the project but a new questionnaire is to be developed.

The process of discussing the boundaries with settlers was beyond the scope of this project.

Assure the support of institutions recognized by the communities, including the government and indigenous authorities.

Incorporate a parallel but independent methodology to obtain the native agricultural knowledge. RECOMENDATIONS

Incorporate new technologies for information recompilations as UAV

Mitú

Santa Marta

Puerto López

Garrafa

Mitú

Piracemo

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH UAV - CONTEXTUAV pilot study to delimit indigenous territory in Piracemo Community.

• Establish use of the land.• Identify strategic points:

• Hunting• Fishing• Farming

Interviews

• UAV-derived mapping.

• Draw identified borders.

Mapping

• Define undiscussed borders.

• Establish shared areas.

Socializing

• Present results in agreement with the community

Presenting

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH UAV - METHODOLOGY

4 steps methodology - Social cartography with UAV

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH UAV – PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Air view of the community

Mitú

Santa Marta

Puerto López

Garrafa

Piracemo

Population: 200 Families: 32 Houses: 31

Social cartography (UDIC, 2005)

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH UAV – PRELIMINARY RESULTS

• Álvaro Rojas Ferreira ah.rojas73@unaindes.edu.co• Daniel Paéz Barajasdpaez@uniandes.edu.co

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME…

• ANI. (2013). Proyectos 4G infraestructura vial. Bogotá: ANI.• Consultorías Integrales SA. (2013). DIAGNÓSTICO Y ESTUDIOS PARA LA

ELABORACIO N DEL PLAN DE ORDENAMIENTO TERRITORIAL DEPARTAMENTAL DE VAUPÉS. Mitú: Gobernación Vaupés.

• DANE. (2005). Mapa índice de pobreza Multidimensional. Bogotá: DANE.• DANE. (2010). Predicciones población 2012. Bogotá: DANE.• Google Maps. (s.f.). Google Maps. Recuperado el 2015, de google.es/maps• IGAC. (2013). MApa estado Catastro Colombia. Bogotá: IGAC.• IGAC. (2014). MApa densidad poblacional Colombia. Bogotá: IGAC.• INVÍAS. (2010). Mapa red vial pavimentada Colombia. Bogotá: INVÍAS.• Peña Márquez, J. (2011). Mitú, Ciudad Amazónica, Territorialidad

Indígena. Leticia: Universidad Nacional de Colombia: sede Amazonas.• SIGOT. (2005). Mapa resguardos indigenas Colombia. Bogotá: IGAC.• SINCHI. (2012). MApa Áreas estratégicas de minería en la Amazonía.

Bogotá: SINCHI.

REFERENCES