The Demographic Pressure upon the Land in Toribío, Cauca (Colombia)

Abstract

The phenomenon of recoveries of land by the indigenous Nasa of the Northern Cauca region (mainly in the municipalities of Toribio, Jambaló, Caloto, Santander de Quilichao and Corinto) began in the 1970s and continues today with recoveries in the flat area of the municipalities of Caloto and Corinto. One argument of indigenous organizations in favor of reclaiming this land has to do with the growing number of families who have no access to land by way of family inheritance or by assignment of the cabildos. This article explores the process of demographic change in the municipality of Toribío over the past 21 years, from a comparative analysis of the major socio-demographic results shown by the dane Population Census of 1993 and 2005 and some results on the Encuesta piloto experimental indígena Nasa sobre el Buen Vivir (2014). Similarly, based on the results of this last survey, the relationship between sociodemographic conditions and access to land by Unidades Domésticas y de Producción Nasa (udpn) in the three resguardos (San Francisco, Tacueyó and Toribío) that make up the municipality of Toribío. It is suggested that recent sociodemographic changes within a territory that has not varied in size, produces a “bottleneck” of available land in the Municipality.

Keywords

• acceso a la tierra
• etnicidad
• indicadores sociodemográficos
• resguardos indígenas
• Unidades Domésticas y de Producción Nasa.