Avoided Deforestation (REDD) and Indigenous ... - Amazon Fund

which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.” (Article 26 of
UNDRIP, in Bolivia incorporated as law 3760 of 2007). Additionally, Bolivian legislation recognizes
the “legal personality of Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Peasant Communities
and neighborhoods” (Law Nº 1551/1994). 9
The property which is referred to in article 394 of the NPCBS are the Original Community
Lands or OCLs, which were already recognized by law in 1996 and is the legal concept through
which the process of collective titling of indigenous lands in Bolivia has been developed. The
Service Law of Agrarian Reform (Law Nº 1715 of October 18, 1996) which, although it predates
current Constitution, applies to everything which does not contradict the constitutional text,
defines OCLs as “the geographic spaces which constitute the habitat of indigenous and original
people and communities, to which they have traditionally had access and where they maintain
and develop their own forms of economic, social, and cultural organization, to ensure their
survival and development. They are inalienable, unseizable and imprescriptible.”
One of the principal innovations the new Constitution introduced relating to the
recognition of the indigenous territorial rights was establishing the possibility of creating
mixed titles which combine collective titles with individual property titles. Thus, in the third
paragraph of the same article 394, the NPCBS points out that: “Communities can be titled
recognizing the complementarities between collective and individual rights, respecting the
land unit with identity.” This concept aims to respect and conserve the territorial unit of the
community, despite the existence of individual titles, which were previously acquired and which
many indigenous families, mostly from the highlands, do not want to give up. 10 The internal
Bolivian legal system and has primacy over any other statutory provision. The constitutional bloc is composed of
international treaties and agreements regarding Human Rights and the norms of Community Rights, ratified by the
country. (Emphasis by author.)
9 Law of Popular Participation. 5th Article (Registry of Legal Personality): I. The registry of the legal entity of peasant
communities, indigenous peoples, and neighborhoods in the Provincial Section shall be made according to
jurisdiction, by order of the Prefecture or Sub-prefecture, in favor of the Basic Territorial Organization presented
in community documents such as Book of Acts, acts of assemblies, act of possession which designates their
representative or authorities, and/or respective regulations, according to the nature of the petitioner, and previous
positive resolution from the corresponding Council or Municipal Board. If the requirements set forth above are
fulfilled, the appropriate administrative authority cannot deny the registration and is responsible for any action or
omission that violates the provisions established in the present article.
10 “This arrangement awoke susceptibility among indigenous organizations from the lowlands, who, with
indivisible collective property rights recognized by the INRA law, protect their territories from parceling and selling
which tend to arise in difficult economic situations.” (CEJIS)
28 Av o i d e d d e f o re s t A t i o n (redd) A n d i n d i g e n o u s p e o p l e s: experiences, chAllenges A n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s in t h e A m A zo n c o n t e x t