Land tenure in the Peruvian Amazon

Land Tenure in

the Peruvian Amazon

Levin College of Law, Univerity of Florida,

Gainesville, 2005Carlos Soria, Ph. D.

[email protected]

1. Legal Background

Regulations, Statutes, Supreme Decree, Chief Decree and so on…

3

Act, Law or similar rank legislation

Constitution

2

1

The hierarchy of the Constitution inspired by Kelsen’s Pyramid

Peruvian constitutions and land tenure1920 Constitution Recognition of

comunidades

1933 Constitution Estatuto Especial CC D.L. 22175

1979 Constitution Ley General de CC Ley de Deslinde y Tit.

1993 Constitution Ley de Tierras Ley de Titulación de

la Costa

The Environment in the 1979 Constitution

Title III Of The Economic RegimeChapter II Of Natural Resources

Article 118 Natural resources, renewable and non-renewable, are patrimony of the Nation.The minerals, soils, forests, waters and, in general, all natural resources and energy sources belong to the State. The law fixes the conditions of its use by the State and its granting to individuals.

Article 119 The State evaluates and preserves natural resources. Also it fosters its rational use. It promotes its industrialization to impel economic development.

Article 120 The State fosters the development of the Amazon. It grants special regimes when it is required. An independent and autonomous technical institution is in charge of the inventory, research, evaluation and control of those resources.

Titulo III Del Regimen EconomicoCapitulo II De Los Recursos NaturalesArtículo 118 Los recursos naturales, renovables y no renovables, son patrimonio de la Nación.Los minerales, tierras, bosques, aguas y, en general, todos los recursos naturales y fuentes de energía pertenecen al Estado. La ley fija las condiciones de su utilización por éste y de su otorgamiento a los particulares.

Artículo 119 El Estado evalúa y preserva los recursos naturales. Así mismo fomenta su racional aprovechamiento. Promueve su industrialización para impulsar el desarrollo económico.

Artículo 120 El Estado impulsa el desarrollo de la Amazonía. Le otorga regímenes especiales cuando así se quiere. Una institución técnica y autónoma tiene a su cargo el inventario, la investigación, la evaluación y el control de dichos recursos.

Artículo 121 Corresponde a las zonas donde los recursos naturales están ubicados, una participación adecuada en la renta que produce su explotación, en armonía con una política descentralista. Su procesamiento se hace preferentemente en la zona de producción.

Artículo 122 El Estado fomenta y estimula la actividad minera. Protege la pequeña y mediana minería. Promueve la gran minería. Actúa como empresario y en las demás formas que establece la ley. La concesión minera obliga a su trabajo y otorga a su titular un derecho real, sujeto a las condiciones de ley.

Artículo 123 Todos tienen el derecho de habitar en ambiente saludable, ecológicamente equilibrado y adecuado para el desarrollo de la vida y la preservación del paisaje y la naturaleza. Todos tienen el deber de conservar dicho ambiente. Es obligación del Estado prevenir y controlar la contaminación ambiental.


Article 121 It corresponds to the zones where the natural resources are located, an adequate share in the rent that its extraction produces, in harmony with a descentralist policy. Its processing is preferredly done in the zone of production.

Article 122 The State fosters and stimulates the mining activity. It protects the small and medium mining. It promotes the great mining. It acts as an entrepreneur and in the other forms that the law establishes. The mining concession implies its use and grants to its holder a real right subject to the conditions of law.

Article 123 All persons have the right to live in a healthy environment, ecologically balanced and suited for the development of life and the preservation of landscape and nature. All persons have the duty to conserve such environment. It is a State duty to prevent and control environmental pollution.


TITULO III Del régimen económicoCAPITULO II Del ambiente y los recursos naturales

Artículo 66.- Los recursos naturales, renovables y no renovables, son patrimonio de la Nación. El Estado es soberano en su aprovechamiento.Por ley orgánica se fijan las condiciones de su utilización y de su otorgamiento a particulares. La concesión otorga a su titular n derecho real, sujeto a dicha norma legal.

Artículo 67.- El Estado determina la política nacional del ambiente. Promueve el uso sostenible de sus recursos naturales.

Artículo 68.- El Estado está obligado a promover la conservación de la diversidad biológica y de las áreas naturales protegidas.

Artículo 69.- El Estado promueve el desarrollo sostenible de la Amazonía con una legislación adecuada.

TITLE III Of the economic regimeCHAPTER II Of the Environment and Natural Resources

Article 66 The natural resources, renewable and non renewable, are patrimony of the Nation. The State is sovereign in its use.A Qualified Act of Congress states the conditions under which to grant their use to individuals. The concession grants to its holder a real right.

Article 67. - The State determines the national environmental policy. It fosters the sustainable use of natural resources.

Article 68. - The State has a duty to promote the conservation of biological diversity and protected areas.

Article 69 The State promotes the sustainable development of the Amazon with a suitable legislation.

Property in the 1993 Constitution

Article 70 The property right is inviolable. The state guarantees it. It is exercised in harmony with the common good and within the limits of the law. No one can be deprived of its property, but because of national security or public need, declared by law, and previous payment in cash of a fair priced compensation that includes compensation by the possible damage. There is legal action to contend the value of property set by the State in the expropriation process.

Artículo 70°. El derecho de propiedad es inviolable. El Estado lo garantiza. Se ejerce en armonía con el bien común y dentro de los límites de ley. A nadie puede privarse de su propiedad sino, exclusivamente, por causa de seguridad nacional o necesidad pública, declarada por ley, y previo pago en efectivo de indemnización justipreciada que incluya compensación por el eventual perjuicio. Hay acción ante el Poder Judicial para contestar el valor de la propiedad que el Estado haya señalado en el procedimiento expropiatorio.

The Constitution on IP land tenure

Article 88°. The State preferredly supports agrarian development. It guarantees the property right o land, in private or communal form or any other associative form. The law can set the limits and the extension of land according to the peculiarities of each zone.Abandoned land, according to legal provisions, passes to the dominion of the State for their selling.

Art. 89.- Peasant and native communities have legal existence and are juridical persons.They are autonomous in their organization, communal work and the use and free right to dispose of their land, as well as in their economy and administration. The property of their land is imprescriptibly, unless in the case of abandonment of the land. The State respects the cultural identity of Peasant and Native Communities

Artículo 88°. El Estado apoya preferentemente el desarrollo agrario. Garantiza el derecho de propiedad sobre la tierra, en forma privada o comunal o en cualquiera otra forma asociativa. La ley puede fijar los límites y la extensión de la tierra según las peculiaridades de cada zona.Las tierras abandonadas, según previsión legal, pasan al dominio del Estado para su adjudicación en venta. Artículo 89°. Las Comunidades Campesinas y las Nativas tienen existencia legal y son personas jurídicas.Son autónomas en su organización, en el trabajo comunal y en el uso y la libre disposición de sus tierras, así como en lo económico y administrativo, dentro del marco que la ley establece. La propiedad de sus tierras es imprescriptible, salvo en el caso de abandono previsto en el artículo anterior.El Estado respeta la identidad cultural de las Comunidades Campesinas y Nativas.

ILO 169, Art. 15.2

In case that it belongs to the State the property of minerals and the resources of the subsoil, or it has right on other existing resources, the governments will have to establish or maintain procedures with a view to consulting the interested peoples, in order to determine if the interests of those peoples would be harmed,and to what extent, before undertaking or authorizing any program of prospecting or exploiting the natural resources on their land. The interested peoples will have to participate whenever it is possible in the benefits that report such activities, and to perceive an adequate compensation by any damage that can as a result of those activities.

Evolution of land tenure law 1824 Bolivar recognized indigenous communities

1868 Civil Code reverted to State all land not registered

1920 Constitution recognized and protected right to land

1978 Peru’s first Indigenous Communities Act, DL 22175

1987 Ley General de CCCC y de Deslinde

1993 Neo liberal Constitution tries to create a land market

1995 Ley de Tierras y comunidades

1995 Ley de Titulación de CC CC Costa

2. Land Tenure in LA

Land tenure options in LA Intangible areas

Roads, river banks, ports, national security areas. Cannot be sold, rented, donate or mortgaged.

Protected areas Usually overlapped with mining, forestry and oil blocks. Private and communal properties have use restrictions

Fiscal Land and wasteland Usually reserved for colonization

Urban property and infraestructura

1 Public property

From Chris van Dam 1999 La Tenencia de la Tierra en América Latina. El Estado del Arte de la Discusión en la Región, UICN, pages 6 and 7

Land tenure options in LA Latifundia

Usually comprising extensive non productive areas and pastures

Agro business Intensive in technology and capital, salaries, and related to the world market

Speculative investment / real state

Small capital producers Produce for the local markets (monoculture, coffee, tobaco, fruticulture, horticulture)

Peasants in subsistence economy

2 Private property

Land tenure options in LA

Peasant communitiesTraditional form of property, many times from pre Hispanic origin, combining communal and family use. Land is usually not in the market.

Agrarian Coops

Indigenous Peoples landVarious degrees of recognition from possession to territory, involving use and access to associated resources.

3 Asociativa/Comunal property

Land tenure options in LA jornaleros/cosecheros

pequeños arrendatarios, aparceros, medieros

invasores, ocupantes ilegales

Investors Set up pools of resources, renting production factorsGreat mobility according to investment and natural capital opportunities

4 Without land

Impact of Agrarian Reformsa. Minimized social conflict and co-opted peasant elite

in support of governmentb. Where land was individually titled, new owners made

small investmentsc. Promoted a process of dinamization and modernization

of agriculture in the sector not under reform. Smaller area, need to show efficiency and a new entrepreneurial sector.

d. Tímid reduction of rural poverty only of those few favored by subsidies.

e. Modest employment generated because of mechanization.

f. In regards to equity no LA reached more than 25% of the peasant population. New beneficiaries hired the non beneficiaries in the same old conditions.

Counter-reform occurred. From Chris van Dam 1999 La Tenencia de la Tierra en América Latina. El Estado del Arte de la Discusión en la Región, UICN, pages 12-13

USAID and the 1990 land contra-reform

Hendrix (1993) AID promoted Latin America land liberalization. In 1992 AID adopted as principles:

a) the promotion and consolidation of democratic values andb) the promotion of free market principles, and therefore the elimination of barriers to the land market..

Counter-reforms in México, Perú and Honduras, proposed to generate employment, promote environmentally and socially sound economic growth, political freedom and governance.

Land liberalization also involved changing the legal framework to support private sector access to the land market. This reforms affected the most vulnerable, previously benefited by the Agrarian reform

From Chris van Dam 1999 La Tenencia de la Tierra en América Latina. El Estado del Arte de la Discusión en la Región, UICN, page 16

3. Land Tenure in Peru

Land tenure by IP communities

1994 Agrarian Census 5,680 comunidades campesinas [peasant communities] Andes and Pacific Coast 1,192 comunidades nativas [native communities] Amazon

Communities posses 14 million Has.

comunidades campesinas 40% comunidades nativas add 15%

Comunidades campesinas distribution Most comunidades campesinas are located in 5 departaments

They represent 63% of all comunidades campesinas

Department Number

Puno 1,274Cusco 927Huancavelica

500

Ayacucho 454Apurímac 438TOTAL 3,593

Programa Especial de Titulacion de Tierras PETTTemporary WB funded project

2 million properties titled

Conflict with the SUNARP and Municipalities over the land registry

4. Current debate around LT, IP & NR

Current debate to modify IP and land tenure legislation2 state commissions and a IP orgs commission since March 2004

There was an agreement to unify State commissions

IP and CS decided to prepare a unified proposal

Debate is still in progressIt shall result in a draft law presented to the Congress Commission on Amazon issues

What are the issues already discussed?

I. Disposic. Generales

II. Derechos de Pueblos Indígenas

III. De las Comunidades

IV. Territorio y Recursos

V. Desarrollo Económico sustentable

VI. Autonomía, Organizaciones representativas

VII. Marco Administrativo

VIII. Derecho Consuetudinario

Disp. Complementarias y Finales

Land or Territory?"Territory... the surface, the subsoil, the airspace and all the natural resources that are in it.”

Imprescriptible, inalienable, inembargable e inexpropiable...

Third party titles granted after Jan 18, 1920, hold no value

5. The overlapping

Map of Native Communities, Protected Areas, Production Forests and Forest concessionaries

Map of Native Communities by linguistic family, Protected Areas, and Oil blocks

‘To secure my land, I obtained a a land title, a mining right and a forest permit’

Leon Velarde 1989

6. Looking into the concrete cases

Ley de Deslinde y Titulación Communal land: original, acquired and assigned by the

It identifies land that is not communal It establishes agile administrative procedure

Conciliation and arbitration Drift to the judicial procedure only if there is no agreement

Need to promote and apply.Agrarian Reform Institute

Titulación comunidades nativas

There is no a special procedure in Native Communities Act

Demarcation territory (5 steps): Inspection, Demarcation minutes, Land classification, Plan, Resolution, appeal and Ministerial Resolution

Las Comunidades Campesinas en la Ley de Tierras Art. 10º: The communities will have to regularize their communal organization in agreement with the Constitutional rules and the present Law

Replaced by Law Degree CC.CC of Coast, 1997

Greater interest in Coastal communities In Andean Highlands and Amazon: vote of 2/3 comuneros

First step must become communal.

Alternatives for communitiesTo survive such as they have done until now

To sell the land or rent it To acquire a family title To parcel the landTo change the law and recognize communal management of land and resources

Institutional challenges for small enterprises in community and State forestlands in the Peruvian Amazon

Richard Chase Smith et al. 2005

From Smith, R. et al. 2005 Institutional challenges for small enterprises in community and State forestlands in the Peruvian Amazon

Land tenure in the Upper Tambopata

Carlos Soria, Ph. D.and Bonnie Sobrino, Bch. Ll.

CCNN Infierno

Zona de Amortiguamiento [buffer zone] Zona de Amortiguamiento [buffer zone] PNBSPNBS

Carretera Mazuco – San Gabán

The Upper Tambopata basin (in & out of PNBS)

Family unit 3.74 members older than 12Only in harvest family units hire 2.5 persons Salary is around US $ 2.03 to 2.09 plus meals. Traditional Ayni exchange adds 0.6 pers.Near 13,000 AymarasCoffee main economic activity, 53.7% of agricultural land. Tambopata and Inambari host near 5,000 coffee growers organized in cooperatives with centralized gathering, comercialization and exports (CECOVASA).Garcia, A 2004 EVALUACION DEL CONTEXTO SOCIOECONOMICO

%Titulo de Propiedad 3.7Certificado Teniente Gobernador 50.7Certificado Posesión M INAG 9.6Titulo tierras m ontaña 1.5Escritura com pra venta 8.1Com pra de otro 2.9Herencia 19.1Arrendado 1.5Otro 2.9

Situación Legal de Parcelas(+)

Colorado Sector inside the PNBSPhysical conditions

Head basin of Tambopata

Dissected terrain with slopes from medium to steep

Mountainous tropical forests with high priority for conservation

Since the 70s, studies on soil capacity indicated that the scarce land agricultural aptitude available was already occupied. A 1999 study found that land, although not being optimal for agricultural aims, could be used for coffee and permanent cultures. (Arens 1962; Mejia for CI 2001).

Social conditions

o 61 people (INEI 1993) o 227 people (Tnte. Gob 2000) o 148 pos (PNBS 2000) o 79 pos (PNBS 2002)

o No land title. Land use for rice, coca, daily products.

o 250 abandoned farms 2002

o They see the area suited for agriculture and mining despite environmental degradation

oSmall occupation due to INRENA announced decision not to allow land titling inside the Nat Park

From Heidi Rubio 2003 Avances en la formulación de las Zonas críticas para la Gestión y la ZonificaciónPlanes Maestros del Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene y la Reserva Nacional Tambopata

Population feel PNBS

oThey reject PA delimitation oThey wanted sector Colorado to Pampas del Rosario exclude form the ParkoThey perceive the PA as a limitation to their lives

PA management

o No PNBS Management Committee in Punoo 4 park guards o No inter-Sectorial coordinationo PAs regulations not known

Colorado River, Alto Tambopata basin in Puno

From Heidi Rubio 2003 Avances en la formulación de las Zonas críticas para la Gestión y la ZonificaciónPlanes Maestros del Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene y la Reserva Nacional Tambopata

CI Coffee Project 1998-present. Several donors (since 2003,

Starbucks). Support to CECOVASA’s organic coffee

program through yearly-reviewed formal agreement.

Design and organization (farmer commitees). On-farm technical advice. Guidance for certification process. Strict rules. Peer-based supervision and control. Help in finding good clients through CI’s

partner organizations. CI refused to assume greater role. Permanent and transparent review of impact

of project on greater protection of the Park and the upper Tambopata basin strategic outlook.

Socioeconomic diagnostic (1998) and update (2003).

From Raez-Luna, E 2005 Brazil nuts and Shade grown organic coffee in SE Peru

CI Coffee project results

1440 producers

Price 3 to 4x than reg coffee

2003 $0.5 million

2004 $1.5 million

Starbucks Tambopata Coffee

Cecovasa agreed to dispute resolution over Nat Park

Reduction of fires, pollution, erosion and pesticide

From Raez-Luna, E 2005 Brazil nuts and Shade grown organic coffee in SE Peru

Limitations to property rights inside the PNBS

Llimitations to property for settlers established before the protected area:

The population must have been present before the establishment of the protected natural area.

Recognizes and respects property right and other real rights that might exist, but might impose limitations if deemed necessary. The restriction is attached to the specific estate.

People can continue with their activities as long as they are are not opposite to the objectives and aims of the protected area.

Buffer zone agricultural problems

1. The conflicts that we found in the zone are mostly related to land tenure. The most serious problem is informal land tenure, since many of these settlers do not have a land title, are possessors by fact, by inheritance. Those that can exhibit a land related document is usually a possession certificate given by different the Lieutenant Governor or the PETT.

2. There is a need to formalize land tenure through property titles or possession certificates in order to ensure access to rights guaranteed by PA law to continue this type of activity or even improve production.

3. Informal land tenure prevents them from accessing financial and government support, which influences on the productivity of agriculture which is also their main source of income (commercialization of coffee and citruses; coca leaf, and home gardens).

Soria, C. et al 2003 Una propuesta de desarrollo sostenible para Colorado y la zona de amortiguamiento del Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene en Puno

4. Another problem is the use of poor easy erosionable soils and the impoverishment of soils; due to lack of management plans that could allow to increase gains in a market scarce area.

5. All of these reasons also explain the success of a crop such as coca.

6. Local conflicts are mainly related to boundaries due to inexistent land survey and delimitation between agriculturalists. The solution is land titling by PETT. However PETT has not been allocated funds to do this in this area.

7. In the Chocal Sector the most frequent conflict is due to land plots overlapping even among relatives who lack a land related document that can establish each ones rights.

8. In many settlements Lieutenants Governors, Auxiliary Lieutenants and, even, municipal agents made proposals focused on improving quality of life. These included land survey and delimitation, technical and financial support to agriculture and the establishment of a PNBS management committee branch. Soria, C. et al 2003 Una propuesta de

desarrollo sostenible para Colorado y la zona de amortiguamiento del Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene en Puno

9. In Pacaysuizo, Chunchusmayo and Yanamayo Pampas, there was a request for a solution to the mining activity that affects their land and rivers. The Chunchusmayo sector requested that the conditions in which the mining activity is carried be verified by authorities.

10. Requested that INRENA changes their proposed forest concessions scheme and incoporates secondary forests. They reject the forest concessions.

11. In the Curva Alegre sector the Lieutenant Governor proposed the need to land titling. The municipal agent proposed that all settlers be organized, requested more participation by state institutions, NGOs, the Ministry of Agriculture, and INRENA.

12. In Upper Arco Punco there was a proposal that: • roads be improved, • technical training,• institutional streengthening and• access to financial support.

13. The Huacahuañuna sector proposed that INRENA controls and regulates gold mining. Soria, C. et al 2003 Una propuesta de

desarrollo sostenible para Colorado y la zona de amortiguamiento del Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene en Puno

Lessons1. To understand land tenure impact on ecosystems we need to

look not only at land titles or possession certificates, but all resource access titles and land zoning categories

2. Possession occurs regardless of State will to secure land3. PA’s, despite their difficulties, deter land invasion4. Productive activity can provide positive synergies for

conservation5. Local populations demand to interact with the State

interaction in order to support State proposals6. Land tenure is a major issue, but not a requisite for

successful economic activity7. Other actions such as positive engagement with market

actors, technical support institutional strengthening have positive economic impact despite widespread informal land tenure

Conclusions1. The one-for-all approach of the legal system was all very

useful when the purpose of the Western legal system was to take over the land and resources of local populations. Now the purpose has changed to environmental stewardship, which can not be achieved in the social space, if we do not provide avenues for the legal system to recognize the diversity of social life, particularly in regards to also very diverse ecosystems and their components

2. If ecosystem conservation is your interest, then look at all components of social arrangements for economic activities rather than at formal legal procedures

3. The State needs to ‘read the law’ in the context of ‘on site’ social arrangements for land tenure

4. PA’s demand State presence and interaction at the local level to be viable in the hands of local populations

5. Local control of natural resources occurs despite consistent efforts to regulate through the legal system.

Issues to look at in future research1. Compare the surface of land titled versus surface non titled in

use

2. Compare production of land titled and land non titled

3. Compare surface under land titled, possession and other uses

4. Compare economic revenues from land titled, possession and other uses

5. Review the relevance of the legal framework for human livelihood

6. Review the customary and social arrangements for resource access, dispute resolution and other (compensation, subsidies, etc)

Thank You All

This research was made possible thanks to support provided by

Conservación Internacional

Foro Ecológico

Instituto del Bien Común

INRENA

Proyecto Tambopata Inambari

Land tenure in the Peruvian Amazon

Documents

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