The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) has launched its consolidated summary report of “Our Land, Our Life: A Participatory Assessment of the Land Tenure Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Guyana.”
This was done virtually on Thursday, February 25, 2021, with the report featuring a summary analysis on the land tenure situation of Indigenous Peoples across Regions 1,2,7,8 and 9, APA said in release.
APA’s Executive Director, Jean La Rose, in a brief overview of the project, explained that the summary report is a culmination of work that started in 2012 in the small Region Two community of Akawini. This was done with continuous technical support from the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) and Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS). Funding support came from the Department for International Development (DFID) through its UK Aid section, the European Union and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI).
La Rose also noted that prior to the summary report, individual reports were published over the years. However, the report for Region Nine has been delayed as a result of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
Notwithstanding, 49 Indigenous researchers, comprising, women, youth and the elderly, have been trained and were able to carry out research work in communities across Regions 1,2,7, 8 and 9 over the course of the 8 years.
Meanwhile, APA’s Governance and Rights Coordinator, Dr Laura George, in her presentation on the key findings and recommendations, said research done during the course of this project, highlighted the failure of government to recognize collective territories, inadequate recognition of customary lands, land conflicts, lack of clarity on land titles, and demarcation and mapping errors as some of the common issues among indigenous communities across Guyana.
She noted that even when the government has recognized village titles, villages encounter problems because of mistakes or inconsistencies in maps and demarcation. George went on to cite the case of Kako, a village in Region 7 that is missing entirely from the GLSC database of indigenous village land titles.
Additionally, many villages report that errors resulted from failure to effectively involve community participation during mapping and demarcation. One common example is getting the names of rivers or creeks mixed up.
Further, land and resource
conflicts have resulted not only in villagers being restricted from accessing their traditional farming, hunting, fishing, gathering areas but also significant environmental damage. In some cases, she added, these conflicts have escalated to the point of violence, before alluding to the case of the Patamuna elder Mamai Lucille William, whose home in home in Karisparu was destroyed by miners.
Notwithstanding, the report also sought to highlight several recommendations developed by communities with support from the APA. These included the revision of the Amerindian Act in order to bring it in line with international standards for protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, improve the land titling process to better protect indigenous land rights, address land conflicts by respecting the right to effective participation and free, prior, and informed consent and correct mapping errors, among others.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer and FPP representative Lan Mei, in providing an international context on the publication of the report, described the series of publications as quite inspiring, particularly since no known studies of a similar nature has been done before in other countries where it takes such a participatory approach.
“It’s been especially interesting to me as a lawyer to see the recommendations that the communities have made in these studies about the changes that are needed to ensure their land rights are protected and to see how these are effectively the same recommendations that have been made by International human rights treaty bodies,” Mei noted.
More importantly, she said, the publication provides a good model for what a participatory framework looks like. “I think the right to FPIC and FPIC has become a bit of a buzz word but in many cases around the world it is not really implemented correctly. I think the way in which the research for these LTAs have been carried out is a good example of what that should look like in practice,” she added.
Mei also said the publication of the LTA is timely, particularly, since Guyana is now at a turning point, alluding to Guyana’s oil production status. “We see a lot of headlines about incoming oil revenues and oil development but we have not seen much about indigenous rights that has been visible in this mainstream international media discussion but indigenous people rights are quite important to bear in mind during this transition. So, I hope this national LTA key findings and recommendations will be able to inform policies and legal decisions moving forward,” she noted.’
Further, she explained that the reports can be used to provide feedback about the enjoyment of rights by Indigenous Peoples for International bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) which has asked Guyana to report on issues pertaining to Indigenous Peoples rights including measures that the government is taking to protect Indigenous peoples’ land rights and customary tenure systems.
In addition to the publication, the APA also introduced its new geographic database that hosts spatial data pertaining to all indigenous peoples’ lands in Guyana. This database was also developed with support from Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP).
Essentially, the geographic database consolidates observations taken over APA’s 20-year history in the field working with indigenous communities and district councils. The data was gathered through field work, including GPS surveys and interviews. The database is managed and continuously updated by APA and local indigenous partners.
The database features three maps focusing on various topics important to indigenous peoples in Guyana. An Overview Map provides information on titled lands, villages, protected areas, mining claims and indigenous use areas. A Threats Map pinpoints a variety of threats, accompanied by written descriptions and photographic or satellite evidence. Finally, the Conservation Opportunities Map observes five areas in western Guyana under active conservation planning by various district council bodies. APA will add future maps and areas as data becomes available.
