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Missing the Community for the Cadastre

Missing the Community for the Cadastre. Liza Grandia, University of California-Davis, Associate Professor Department of Native American Studies D. Q’eqchi’ Maya Communities and the Land Administration Projects I and II in Guatemala. Petén in relation to Central America & Guatemala.

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Missing the Community for the Cadastre

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  1. Missing the Community for the Cadastre • Liza Grandia, University of California-Davis, Associate Professor • Department of Native American Studies • D Q’eqchi’ Maya Communities and the Land Administration Projects I and II in Guatemala

  2. Petén in relation to Central America & Guatemala

  3. Q’eqchi’ (formerly K’ekchi’) – Guatemala’s second largest Maya group, approximately a million speakers

  4. Petén: state-sponsored colonization 1959-1989, as part of the military-led counter agrarian reform after the 1954 CIA coup of President Arbenz Oscar Obando 2009

  5. Led to the 1992 creation of the Maya Biosphere Reserve (1.6 million ha.) Deforestation, > 50% forest loss in 30 years of colonization And a broader network of protected areas, leaving 57% of Petén under conservation status and enclosing much of Q’eqchi’ territory

  6. FYDEP cadaster & protected areas established 1990s

  7. Early 1990s: land titling projects across Petén to resolve- 40,000 pending colonization claims, &- especially in conflicts with protected areasand CARE (USAID & Austria), KfW, Guatemalan government, IDB, etc....

  8. Peace Accords, 1996 Many diverse commitments to improve Guatemala’s agrarian situation, including: 1. public financing for land 2. cadastral registry --- > creation of the National Cadastral Information Registry (previously UTJ) 3. resolution of conflicts 4. credit 5. productive projects 6. infrastructure for rural development 7. training 8. information systems 9. legal reform 10. land taxes

  9. World Bank-funded • Land Administration Projects (LAPs) in Guatemala • via the national Cadastral Information Registry (RIC, previously UTJ) • Phase I - Petén (1998-2003, but extended to2007) • Loan $31 million + $5.7 million in counterpart funds • No Indigenous Peoples Participation Plan conducted - although 40% of the population is Q’eqchi’ and/or resettled Maya refugees • Phase II – 8 departments, 42 municipalities(2006-ongoing) • Loan approved December 2006, $62 million • Cursory survey (half-day workshop) with representatives from 22 Maya groups • Phase III and IV - ???

  10. From the IPP, half day workshops with indigenous leaders

  11. ProPetén 2009 Zander & Dürr 2011 Ybarra 2011 Hurtado 2009 Grandia 2009 Grandia 2012

  12. Solano 2009 & 2012 Hurtado 2008, 2011 Anonymous 2011 Garoz and Gauster Alfonso-Fradejas et al. 2011

  13. Heath, IEG, 2010 Carrera and Carrera, FAO 2012

  14. 2011: Petén land study team • Directors • Liza Grandia, PhD, Co-PI • Jorge Grunberg, PhD, Co-PI • Bayron Milian, PhD, Field director • Topical consultants • Laura Hurtado, PhD • Alberto Alonso-Fradejas, MSc. • Julio Penados, Ing. Agr. • Erick Cotom, Ing. Ind. • Romeo Euler, Ing. Agr. • Operations • ProPetén Foundation - logistics • Yadira Panti, Eliseo Rax, Alfredo Che, community organizers • Advisory council • Norman B. Schwartz, PhD, U. of Delaware • Megan Ybarra, PhD, Willamette U. • Marcus Zander, DED • Susana Gauster, CONGCOOP • Financed by: • Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development • (Governments of Norway and Finland) • World Bank management • Fernando Galeana • Enrique Pantoja

  15. Research themes & project suppositions • Agrarian structure, legalization rates & land sales: Cadastral measurement and titling would provide land tenure security & stabilize the agricultural frontier. • Agroecology: Through access to credit and reforestation incentives, Petén’s new property owners would invest in more sustainable natural resource use. • Municipal uptake: There would be improved regional land use planning, and progressive taxation to discourage idle land. • Conflicts: An accurate land survey would help resolve latent & active conflicts. • Democratization: As part of the Peace Accord implementation, these processes have special consideration for women and indigenous peoples. • Decentralization: They would also contribute both to decentralization and better coordination among agricultural and land agencies. • -- > Institutional lessons learned

  16. 1. Methodology: Institutional • Integration of historic & contemporary cadasters • Sample of the General Property Registry • Land use change (satellite imagery) • Data collection from banks and municipalities

  17. 2. Community investigation • Consultation with grassroots leaders in research design • Community survey (46 villages, 7% contextual sample) • Participatory mapping • Focus groups and interviews

  18. El Limón

  19. La Cobanerita

  20. El Mango

  21. Orthophotos of land sales

  22. 3. over 2012: vetting results • Advisory council • Public forums (4) with government, university, & civil society in both Petén & the capital • Two government comment periods • QER (Quality Enhancement Review) • WB management

  23. for policy-makers Grünberg, Grandia & Milian 2012 Grandia 2013 with Fundación ProPetén and ACDIP for communities, without World Bank support

  24. Outcomes for Q’eqchi’ and other indigenous communities • Land grabs • Solidification of historic inequities • Violation of Peace Accords • Denial of the option of collective tenure • Dispossession of sacred sites, and • Fraud 24

  25. 1. Land sales - 46% of small holders, sold or been forced to sell within 5 years of close-of-projectforeclosures (credit), cattle, narcos, African palm, etc.but also poor explanation of inheritance procedures

  26. (2) Solidified historic inequities (3) In violation of Peace Accords AFTER Average parcel holdings 40 ha. in Q’eqchi’ regions compared with 70+ ha. elsewhere BEFORE (Colonization) Allotments of 22-45 ha. in indigenous regions (in grey) compared with 625 ha.+ for cattle ranchers (in red)

  27. 3. Denial of collective title to lands • 4/5ths of Q’eqchi’ communities held and governed their lands according to customary principles when they arrived to Petén, prior to interactions with state land agencies • but were told by project technicians that they had to survey the land immediately and “the title has to be in someone’s name” and villages councils didn’t have legal standing.

  28. Community tenure (not “communal” per se • Not “communist,” but a collective system of land allocation • With profound ecological and social logics: protection of elderly and women headed households; and highly productive because land is for those who farm it.

  29. A A A A A A A A A Am Am Am SsS SA F F F F Af Af Af SsS SsS SsS SsS SsS

  30. Customary managementMix of usufruct, communal, & private areas

  31. Frontier allotment, FYDEP or INTA 31

  32. Land sales - soon looks like this

  33. Even if such community-driven land use planning were not possible....

  34. Caves, forest groves (e.g. copal incense trees and cacao), cairns, mountain, springs, boulders, church site, etc... At a minimal level, sacred places should be protected, according to the Peace Accords Every Q’eqchi’ village will have one or more sacred, ceremonial places

  35. For historic and geographical reasons, Q’eqchi’ spiritual practices are distinct from the western highlands Q’eqchi’ ceremonies conducted by egalitarian councils of four elders

  36. Carried out in forested places and village caves

  37. Western highlands: Ceremonies held by ritual specialists (“Maya priests” or day keepers) on open altars or archaeological sites

  38. Phase II “safeguard” - questionnaire to be carried out by a Spanish-speaking land engineer

  39. Outcomes for Q’eqchi’ and other indigenous communities • Land grabs • Solidification of historic inequities • Violation of Peace Accords • Denial of the option of collective tenure • Dispossession of sacred sites, and • Fraud

  40. Legalized parcels, 68% to date…. 32% still pending, will have to remeasure! (private engineer fees)

  41. Remedies for Phase I, Petén • Allow indigenous communities to reconstitute their lands under customary governance or to create by-laws regulating the sale of village lands. • Provide legal support to communities negotiate and re-acquire access to their sacred sites that were privatized by the LAP I. • At the very least, give every community a copy of their cadastre at the end of this multimillion dollar process.

  42. Phase II Recommendations • Place a moratoriumon all current and future land administration projects (including rumored Phases III and IV) to allow for time, reflection, and real informed consent among Guatemala’s majority indigenous population about the long term consequences of land titling. • Conduct a holistic inventory of different types of communal & sacred lands. • Develop methodological processes that give communities real decision-making processes in land use planning and take advantage of the flexibilities of GPS technology as the start, not the end of integrated agrarian development 8

  43. Continuum of “participation” Top down information Interactive, continued participation Self-mobilization Manipulation Participation, in exchange for material incentives Consultation (theatrical) “social communication” APROBASANK LAP I and II if the Bank were to take seriously its safeguards for the collective rights and processes in the demarcation of land

  44. Comments: • Liza Grandia: emgrandia@ucdavis.edu • liza.grandia@gmail.com

  45. Customary managementMix of usufruct, communal, & private areas

  46. Even minimal land use planning would be ecologically & socially more sound... and if land is sold, develop community by-laws to give preferential purchase to other villagers

  47. Grandia 2013 with Fundación ProPetén and ACDIP for communities, without World Bank support

  48. Even with the checkerboard approach, land owners were to leave 20% forested

  49. Why not combine those forest reserves contiguously? 50

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