Supporting the legalization and administration of indigenous lands

The World Bank, with RUTA’s participation, provides technical assistance to Central American indigenous people in land registration and administration and in the management of natural resources.

The World Bank recently approved a new donation, with resources from Norway (TFESSD), to provide technical assistance and training in land registration processes and legal counseling to the Central American indigenous communities. This support will be provided in the context of the land management projects with indigenous communities, financed by the World Bank in the region.

The activities contemplated will include the participatory design of appropriate standards and procedures for the legalization of communal lands, training of technical personnel and community promoters in land registration procedures, and the participatory demarcation of lands claimed by the community, as well as legal counseling and other actions (see box).

The updated register of indigenous lands will improve their legal security and will increase the commercial value of properties whose legal status will be clearly defined in the public registry, among other benefits.

Currently, all indigenous communities are subject to mixed tenure arrangements, combining the rights of families over different parcels of land and the community’s rights over areas and resources of common use. At the same time, the community authorities have similar administrative obligations to the local governments. For all these reasons, it is important to invest in building local capacity to administer indigenous lands, in order to benefit these communities.

Sustained support for indigenous communities
 
This new effort to assist in the legalization of indigenous lands is part of the continued support provided to Central America’s indigenous groups by the World Bank, with GEF resources, and with RUTA’s technical assistance. As part of this process, RUTA has supervised the implementation of initiatives such as the Conservation and Community Management Project in Sarstoon Temash, in Belize; the Biodiversity Conservation Project and Sustainable Organic Cacao Production Project on small farms of indigenous groups in the Talamanca region, in Costa Rica; and the Carbon Sequestration Project and the Development of Environmental Markets in Indigenous Agroforestry Systems with Cacao, also in Talamanca. In addition, RUTA is supporting the implementation of the Community Management Project in Guatemala’s Bio Itza Reserve and the Project on Integrated Management of Ecosystems in Indigenous Communities in the Central American Region (financed through the World Bank and IDB).