STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributiontheir free and prior informed consent. The lack of legal security of tenure remains a crucial issue for indigenouspeoples almost everywhere.In many countries, dominating development paradigms undermine the modes of production of indigenous peoples,such as hunting and gathering, pastoralism and shifting agriculture, which are often perceived as primitive,non-productive and not in line with the modernization aspirations of present-day states. Indigenous peoplesfeel that many development policies are either directly or indirectly geared toward weakening or eradicatingtheir traditional modes of production. 13 The promotion of new technologies such as improved seeds, chemicalfertilizers and pesticides, etc., the introduction of cash-crop cultivation and large plantation schemes have causedenvironmental degradation and destroyed self-sustaining eco-systems, affecting many indigenous communitiesto the point of forcing them to resettle elsewhere.A general trend of promoting individual land ownership at the expense of collective land rights is another threat toindigenous communities. This results in the privatization of land and resources and, more seriously, in land beingsold to non-indigenous individuals and business interests—ultimately leaving the landless indigenous peoplewith few options other than to take up menial jobs or migrate to urban areas. 14Land privatization in KenyaSince the end of the 1960s, the Government of Kenya, supported by the World Bank, has promoted thetransformation of Trust Lands into group ranches and then individual ownership, thus limiting the landavailable for traditional transhumant grazing, which forms the basis of indigenous pastoralists’ livelihood.Based on the idea that individual titles, through a “willing buyer-willing seller” approach, would improvethe prospects for investment and economic growth, this policy in fact encouraged land grabbing and themassive sale of pastoralist land, particularly in areas neighbouring urban centres.Source: Stavenhagen (2007), Para 29.Large-scale development projectsEconomic policies, promoted by international agencies and triggered by free-trade agreements and globalization,have resulted in a proliferation of large-scale development projects on indigenous lands and territories.Such projects cover a wide array of activities: the large-scale exploitation of natural resources, including subsoilresources; the establishment of plantations and industrial plants; tourist developments; and the construction ofports, transportation networks, multipurpose dams, military bases or toxic waste dumps. 15Evidence shows that indigenous peoples bear the costs of the resource-intensive projects disproportionately,and the human rights effects include loss of traditional territories and land, eviction, migration and eventualresettlement, depletion of resources necessary for physical and cultural survival, destruction and pollution of thetraditional environment, social and community disorganization, long-term negative health and nutritional impactsas well as, in some cases, harassment and violence. 1613“Indigenous Peoples and Land Rights” at http://www.iwgia.org/sw231.asp14See, e.g., Stavenhagen (2004).15Stavenhagen (2003), 5.16Stavenhagen (2004), 5.88 | CHAPTER III