Video: Indigenous Communities Document their Growth and Governance

The Indigenous Territory and Governance Platform [es] is made up of a series of institutions all working together to provide the indigenous people of Latin America the tools and resources to be able to strengthen the governance they have of their territory and their community. A series of short videos is used to document their progress. All links lead to Spanish language sites.

In Colombia, the Association of Indigenous Councils to the North of the Cauca (ACIN) brings together more than 14 reservations and 16 indigenous councils, and through their efforts, the indigenous communities have started taking control of their own economy and environment through small businesses that produce dairy products, fruit juices, cane sugar, bread as well as the commercialization of these products to stock the community stores as well as help other social projects in the community. Through barter systems, training and centralization of products, they mean to provide food security for the indigenous communities as well as provide sources of income.

In Ecuador, the Kichwa of Pastaza have a territory of 1 624 778 hectares (4 014 913.87 acres) belonging to 131 communities. For several years already they've sustainably managed this area, in the next video they share their experiences in developing a Territorial Management Plan based on zoning for a system that will enable them to live off the land without depleting it for many more years while also taking advantage of their constitutional rights to make use of their own lands.

So far only these two videos in the series have been released. Lets hope more are forthcoming in the future focusing on the experiences in other Latin American countries. On their site you can watch different documentaries, films and videos on indigenous issues.

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