Towards improved governance of indigenous land in Chile : challenges and opportunities regarding indigenous land rights from a systemic perspective
Espinoza, Jorge
Chile faces currently a number of wide-ranging challenges with regard to governance of the land sector, particularly in what respects to indigenous rights, land conflict resolution and the protection of cultural heritage. Chile has currently approx. 16.5 million inhabitants, out of which 4.6% belongs to one of the eight ethnic groups recognized by the indigenous law (Instituto Nacional de Estaddsticas 2002). Of the total number of indigenous people, 87.3% belong to the Mapuche ethnic group (ibid.). A large number of these indigenous people live under poor or inadequate livelihood conditions which may be connected to a process which, from a historical point of perspective, resulted in the weakening of the foundations of the customary land rights and, thus, of the traditional basis of the Mapuche culture, that is, their land. This work starts thus from the hypothesis that the processes involved in the privatization of indigenous land in Chile, since the colonial period, has had a substantial impact on the livelihoods of the Mapuche and has been a negative force that has undermined their cultural identity. Baring this in mind, the specific objectives of this study are, first, to identify and analyse the effects of land privatization on this ethnic group since the beginning of the colonization process; and second, to identify key aspects of the processes involved in land restitution, particularly with regard to land rights issues, in order to determine potential approaches to solve these disputes in an effective manner.
Event: 8th FIG Regional Conference 2012 Surveying Towards Sustainable Development
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