TIPNIS ¿Environmental or territorial conflict?

Abstract

The 8th Indigenous People March in Bolivia started in August 2011 to the defense and recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and their territories, also as a response to government plans to build a transoceanic highway through the Isiboro Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park (known by its Spanish acronym TIPNIS). Despite it has been more than two decades since these nations have been claiming and demanding that laws are enforced, the fight over the land is still the main issue. This paper proposes to think the conflict around TIPNIS mainly on the basis of a land problem and secondary as an environmental conflict.

Keywords

• Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure (TIPNIS), territorio, conflicto ambiental, colonos, cocaleros, indígenas amazónicos, extractivistas y progresistas