Explorers and
cartographers have elaborated thousands of maps of Mexico and
Central America over the centuries, but few have bothered to
demarcate the boundaries of the lands or identify the
communities populated by the region's original inhabitants. In
February, a collaboration among the Center for Native Lands in
Washington, DC, the National Geographic Society, indigenous
organizations and researchers resulted in publication of a
revealing map that should be a powerful tool not only for the
cause of indigenous rights but also for biodiversity
conservation.
The map
pinpoints locations of indigenous communities whose names never
appear on conventional maps, such as the Nahoa and Texiguat in
Honduras and the Matagalpa, Nahua, Sutiaba, Nicarao and
Chorotega, who live on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. Further,
the map shows the distribution of forest and marine resources
in the region, extending from southern Mexico south through
Panama. Superimposing the natural resource map over the
location of indigenous lands makes clear what conservationists
have long known: there is a strong correlation between
indigenous territories and areas of high biodiversity.
According to
Amílcar Castañeda, field coordinator for the
Center for Native Lands, a program of the Environmental Law
Institute in Washington, DC, one of the map's principal
objectives is to formally recognize the region's indigenous
people and help them gain legal title to their lands. "The
indigenous do not have access to public participation," he
says. "There is no specific policy with regard to their
territories, and if there is, it is something that's imposed,
not derived from their actual needs."
The map,
printed in the February National Geographic edition for Central
America and Mexico, as well as in the magazine WorldWatch, is a
more comprehensive follow-up to a precursor published in 1992.
Research for the new map was not impeded by lack of access to
indigenous communities, much more problematic during the years
of civil unrest throughout much of Central America and southern
Mexico in the 1980s and early 90s.
For the 2003
map, a group that included indigenous researchers in each of
the eight countries gathered geographic, biological, and
cultural information not only for the regional map but also for
eight national maps, which will be published later this year
and provide even more detail. The information presented on the
national maps is based on consultations with experts in
different fields, from a variety of institutions and national
and regional nongovernmental organizations, fishermen and
indigenous community leaders.
Castañeda emphasizes that in the indigenous
communities, researchers found a tremendous desire to
collaborate, what he calls: "The need to be
visible."
Geographer Luis
Tenorio served as team leader in Costa Rica for the map project
and also helped elaborate the 1992 map. He points out that the
new map is the first that depicts indigenous traditional uses
of marine resources from southern Mexico to Panama. He says
it's also the first map developed together with the indigenous
people of the region and for that reason, it "shows their
vision and reality, including the names of their villages in
their own languages."
Tenorio notes
that in spite of the fact that there is a clear correlation
between indigenous populations and forest cover throughout
Mesoamerica, directors of biodiversity conservation initiatives
and resource development projects seldom bother to consult with
indigenous people. "Many times megaprojects like
hydroelectric plants, mines, road construction and oil
pipelines impinge on indigenous territories without taking into
account the residents of that land," he says.
The problem is
aggravated, he says, because so many indigenous groups live on
land not recognized as theirs by governments, or they migrate
from one country to another, continuing a centuries-old
practice that never heeded borders established by Spanish
colonists. For example, the Miskitos of Nicaragua customarily
migrate to Costa Rica.
Tenorio
believes that the maps will help indigenous communities
"have a better understanding of what they possess, to use
these resources wisely and participate in decision-
making."
Much of the
information for the new map came from satellite imagery, which
makes it possible to determine which areas in Mesoamerica are
at the greatest risk from deforestation and then to link
different categories of information, like forested areas with
economically impoverished regions with the location of
indigenous communities. Compiling and correlating all this data
will help define judicious policies for the future of these
areas. "There is no more agricultural frontier,"
Castañeda maintains. "What is left are protected
areas and indigenous territories."
Next on the
mapping agenda for Native Lands coordinators for Mexico,
Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador is development of a
Maya Map, also in collaboration with the National Geographic
Society, which will show forest cover, indigenous areas, marine
ecosystems and major archeological sites in the five
countries.
According to
Native Lands, in the last decade the majority of indigenous
people in Mesoamerica --- who make up some 23 percent of the
region's population --- have formed organizations and mounted
campaigns to press governments for legal titles to their
territories. While they struggle to survive in countries that
long have marginalized them, Mesoamerica's more than 60
different indigenous groups can now wield new maps to help them
claim stewardship over natural resources that are as endangered
as their own cultures and traditions.
Contacts in
Costa Rica:
Amílcar
Castañeda
Tierras
Nativas
Apdo 50-2400
San Jose
tel 506/250-
2596
fax 506/219-
7483
www.nativelands.org
acastane@racsa.co.cr
Luis Tenorio
Geographer
tel 506/241-
3967
luista@yahoo.com
Read more about
this project in the Eco-Index: www.eco-
index.org/search/results.cfm?ProjectID=442
Also in this section:
Consider the lillies of the field
Guess who best protects
the forests
