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...The main purpose of this paper is to examine legal measures taken to recognize
indigenous groups and provide for their ongoing operation; the paper starts, therefore, from an
underlying assumption that indigenous groups have continued relevance to the needs and wishes
of the people who operate within them. Nevertheless, while it is beyond the scope and purpose of
the paper to explore this complex issue in any depth, it may be useful to present – however briefly
– some of the arguments made for and against the preservation of indigenous groups. In the
course of this brief discussion, the focus of the present paper will be narrowed to a concentration
on the role of indigenous groups in the ownership and control of land and other natural resources.
It should, perhaps, be stressed at the beginning that it is the role of groups as groups which is
under consideration - that is, the group as an entity over and above the individual members which
make it up...
