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

limitation for implementing eventual REDD projects whose direct beneficiaries are exclusively
indigenous people in this country, since there is no legal security regarding the disposition of the
forest resources located in indigenous lands.
It is remarkable that Article 67 refers to a concept of indigenous territoriality that does
not coincide with the rest of the Venezuelan legal zoning regulations which refer to indigenous
lands and not to “demarcated community origin lands” which makes the integral interpretation of
forestry and indigenous legislation difficult. It is not possible to assimilate the concept of lands used
in the forestry law with that in Article 119 of the CB, since the latter refers to the original rights of
the indigenous people over their traditionally used habitat and lands and since demarcation is an
explicit declaratory act and NOT part of the territorial right of indigenous people and communities.
Additionally, anticipating this type of regulatory conflict, the FLIPC itself includes
a principle of legal interpretation which points out that the law applicable to indigenous
territories and habitat is that which is most favorable to the guarantee and protection of the
constitutional rights recognized to them. 123 In this sense, indigenous people’s right of autonomy
to freely decide the development of their economic practices, the use and enjoyment of their
natural resources, recognized in the BC and Articles 3.14, 5 and 122 of FLIPC, is sufficient to
guarantee the possibility for indigenous people to develop conservation and recovery projects
for forest resources, including in cases where they overlap of these with conservation units or
other designation, be it economic or military.
Due to the fact that the Law of Forests and Forest Management is especially recent, it
will be necessary to wait for court rulings on its constitutionality, since the apparent possibility of
the Venezuelan State to grant “permissions” and concessions to third parties to explore the forest
resources in indigenous lands contradicts all of the indigenous regulations currently in force in
the country, including those of constitutional nature.
Overlap between Indigenous Lands and Natural Protected Areas
A particular fact regarding indigenous lands in the Venezuelan Amazon has to do with the
high percentage of overlap of indigenous lands with National Parks and Natural Monuments
123 FLIPC. Article 2. Matters pertaining to indigenous people and communities are governed by the Constitution
of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and in the international treaties, pacts and conventions that the Republic
signed and ratified, as well as the present Law whose application does not limit other rights guaranteed to
these people and communities, in standards different to these. Those standards which are most favorable to the
indigenous people and communities will be preferentially applied. (Emphasis by author.)
66 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