A brief on the formalization of the collective rights of native communities in Peru from the perspective of implementing officials

La Constitución Política de la República de Panamá de 1972 (CPR), “reconoce y respeta la identidad étnica de las comunidades indígenas nacionales”, y dispone que el Estado debe establecer programas tendientes al desarrollo de dichas culturas y su protección.  Este texto revisar la normativa legal que reconoce las comarcas indígenas como territorios indígenas autogobernados. 

El derecho internacional ha avanzado en las últimas décadas hacia el reconocimiento del derecho de los pueblos indígenas a la libre determinación, expresada en regímenes de autonomía o auto-gobierno en sus territorios. En este sentido, la autonomía territorial indígena es un régimen acordado, que permite a los pueblos concernidos el control de sus propias instituciones sociales, políticas y culturales y de sus territorios, en el marco del Estado en que habitan. En el caso panameño, la figura donde se concreta la autonomía indígena es la Comarca.

Este documento analiza la creación de las comarcas indígenas en Panamá desde una perspectiva legal. 

The global community is currently grappling with multiple and overlapping social and environmental threats. These include the climate emergency, COVID-19 and the threat of widespread hunger, and the accelerating loss of biodiversity. All of these threats point to an urgent need to restore and sustainably manage land and forests.

In recent times, forest tenure reform has become one of the most discussed agendas among local and global policymakers. Forest tenure is a contract that specifies who has rights to forestry resources and depicts who should utilize, maintain, and acquire them. It can have a significant impact on whether farmers invest in their forestland. The study’s primary purpose is to explore whether and how the reform of forest rights affects farmers’ investment in public welfare forestry.

While community forestry has shown promise to reduce rural poverty, improve reforestation and potentially offset carbon emissions, many projects have failed, either partly or completely.

Through a collaborative process with the Land Law Advisory Group in Laos, this series of briefing notes addresses some of the most pressing issues in the country in relation to the recently passed Land Law (2019) and Forest Law (2019). The five briefs in the series address: tenure rights in state forestlands; customary tenure rights; tenure rights to land for collective purposes; awareness-raising for gender and social inclusive and safeguards in cases of land loss or expropriation.

“Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is the first line of defense when investors and government officials seek to develop projects that may affect Indigenous communities, lands, territories, and resources. For this reason, Indigenous Peoples must be prepared to engage with FPIC from a fully informed, proactive stance. Indigenous Peoples must have their FPIC protocols ready, and be ready to lead engagement around FPIC on their terms.” –Securing Indigenous Peoples' Right to Self-Determination: A Guide on Free, Prior and Informed Consent