Native Community Lands ( es, Tierra Comunitaria de Origen, acronym: TCO; also translated as Communal Lands of Origin), according to
Bolivian law, are territories held by
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
through
collective title A collective title is an expression by which two or more pieces of legislation may, under the law of the United Kingdom, be cited together. A famous example is the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949.
Construction of references to citation with a group ...
. The creation of these territories has been a major goal of Bolivian indigenous movements and a political initiative pursued by both neoliberal and indigenous-identified national governments. TCOs are being included under the Indigenous Originary Campesino Autonomy regime. , 60 TCOs had been proposed in the lowlands, of which 12 had completed titling, and 143 had been proposed in the highlands, of which 72 had final titles. More than 16.8 million hectares have been incorporated within Native Community Lands , more than 15% of Bolivia's land area.
Titling of indigenous territories was propelled by the March for Territory and Dignity in July and August 1990, organized by the
Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of the Bolivian East The Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia, ( es, Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia; formerly, es, Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas del Oriente Boliviano or CIDOB), is a national representative organization of the Bolivian ...
(CIDOB). This march demanded the recognition of four indigenous territories, which was granted through Supreme Decrees issued on 24 September 1990. State recognition was formalized through the 1993 Agrarian Reform Law, which authorized community land ownership and formalized Native Community Lands as the vehicle for this ownership. Responsibility for verifying and awarding title fell to the National Institute of Agrarian Reform. In the 1994 revision of the Constitution, indigenous rights to exercise "social, economic, and cultural rights" through Native Community Lands were recognized in Article 171. In the 2009 Constitution, Native Community Lands reappear as Indigenous Originary Campesino Territories in Article 403. A study by the Fundación Tierra found that while the Morales government has significantly advanced titling of Native Community Lands, it has resisted ensuring the constitution rights of TCO residents over the management of their territories and resources.
Notes
{{Reflist
links
List and maps of TCO in 2000
Indigenous politics in South America
Indigenous peoples in Bolivia
Indigenous topics of the Gran Chaco