by Mariah Ford, Greengrants Intern
In July 2003, after many years of negotiating with officials in La Paz, the Comunidades Tacanas T.C.O. finally acquired title for the nearly one million hectares that they have traditionally occupied. This is a huge change from “business as usual,” in which indigenous communities have little control over the operations of logging companies that harvest huge amounts of precious timber and destroy the environment in the process. The three Tacana communities involved, Altamarani, Cachichira, and Villa Fatima, are now developing management plans, the next step in seizing the opportunity to manage their environmental resources in a sustainable manner.
The Tacana communities are located in northwestern Bolivia, along the Beni River. Accessibility is costly and difficult, and the river provides the only transport route. The surrounding area is composed of mountains, cloud forests, dry tropical forests, Amazonian rainforest, and savannah. It is also home to approximately one thousand bird species (11% of the world’s total), thousands of plant varieties, and an impressive array of large mammals such as the jaguar, spectacled bear, tapir, capybara, and several primate species. Nearby are the Madidi National Park, one of the largest bio-diversity reserves in the world and an important destination for numerous scientists, and the Pilon Lajas Biosphere Reserve.
Some of the park and the surrounding lands have been designated “Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs).” Roughly equivalent to Native American Reservations in the United States, TCOs are designated areas for the indigenous communities that have resided there for centuries. The Tacana are one of these indigenous peoples. Approximately 5,000 strong, the Tacana are dispersed among many communities (usually comprised of a few hundred individuals), three of which are Altamarani, Cachichira, and Villa Fatima. While the Tacana do have their own language, most of them now speak Spanish as well. Their intimate knowledge of the surrounding forest helped the Tacana be the only indigenous group that Pizarro could not conquer. They rely on a diet of rice, yucca, and tropical fruit (which grows in abundance).
Achieving TCO status can be a difficult and time-consuming endeavor. In 1997, the Tacana, along with the Consejo Indígena del Pueblo Tacana (CIPTA), began their efforts to achieve TCO recognition. After years of difficulties and numerous obstacles, they acquired a title to 958,473 hectares of land on July 7, 2003. With TCO status, indigenous communities have priority to take advantage of forest resources within their territory. However, first each community must develop a management plan that specifies how this will be done.
Many indigenous communities do not have the necessary resources for the development of management plans, which require administrative steps such as an inventory of precious and less precious woods. This makes these communities vulnerable to private loggers who approach them with “deals” or attempt to buy off community leaders. The forests are home to a large amount of highly sought-after timber, such as mahogany and cedar, and the loggers haul away the most valuable wood, paying next to nothing. Communities who have entered into bargains with logging interests usually receive only about six percent of the actual market price per unit of wood.
In addition to exploiting the communities, logging companies also cause significant destruction to the forest when they harvest. They gather more of the valuable timber than is environmentally sustainable and, in an effort to reach better trees, they build roads through valuable parts of the forests. This destruction precipitates landslides, fragments habitats and affects water quality in the area. In addition, loggers rely heavily on the forest animals (some of which are endangered) for food. All of this puts at risk species of timber, the future of new generations of Tacana, and potential ecosystems. The lack of any substantial enforcement in the Madidi Park and surrounding areas also allows for illegal logging to occur frequently.
If the communities can create effective management plans that comply with Bolivian Forest Law, they should be able to negotiate fair timber prices and have a say in the amount and manner in which timber is harvested and transported. The design and legal recognition of these management plans require coordination between everyone involved: families, communities, the Forestry Superintendent, and other local organizations. This joint operation must work to guarantee that the management plans effectively contribute to the administration of the Tacana territory. The people of Cachichira, Altamarani, and Villa Fatima united to promote the active participation of the indigenous towns in the management of protected areas; to recognize the medium and long term potential and limitations of the surrounding natural resources, thereby developing sustainable management plans; and to consolidate the communities’ rights within the existing legal framework of the country. These communities also rely on the support of other NGOs, such as the AsociaciÛn Centro de Defensa de la Cultura (CEDEC) and Veterinarians without Borders.
Global Greengrants provided a grant that is helping these communities achieve such objectives. With this grant, these three communities should be able to address many different aspects of developing a sustainable management plan for their lands: to work with specialized technical assistance to develop effective management plans, to educate community members about Bolivian law requirements and the rights of indigenous communities, to develop a longer term sustainable management plan regarding the areaís resources (including land to be used for pasture, water resources, etc.), and to develop a strategy for dealing with illegal loggers. In addition, some Tacana communities are exploring other options for community development, such as ecotourism, that will allow for them to sustain their citizens and maintain and protect their land.