Indigenous Territories and Tenure security

• In Event: The Evolving Struggle for Indigenous Territories in Latin America

Abstract

Comparative data on forest ownership during the last twenty years evidences that the area of forests under state control has declined globally (RRI, 2015). In Peru, more than 10 million hectares have been recognized as communal lands of native communities in the Amazon region between the 1970 and 2010. Why implementation has been uneven in different contexts and why these reforms have recorded mixed results remains poorly understood largely due to difficulties in studying the various dimensions of tenure reform emergence and implementation concurrently. Competition for forests and land from outside interests, including large-scale investments, extractive activities or mega infrastructural development projects, threatens resource access for communities living in and near forests. This suggests the importance of analyzing the factors that lead to secure tenure rights.
Based on research undertaken under a comparative study of forest tenure reforms, this paper analyzes information from research sites in indigenous lands in Peru to understand factors that influence tenure security. It will do so by studying the conditions that affect tenure security at the communal and regional level in the context of presence or absence of the threats. It will also analyze the relationship between statutory and customary forest tenure and how these relationships affect the tenure security of forest dependent communities. This paper draws from a mixed-method framework—combining qualitative and quantitative methods with participatory action research—for a nuanced understanding of claimed and perceived aspects of tenure security through the study of forest tenure reform implementation.

Author

• Iliana Monterroso