Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

Land use and tenure of two rural communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia in relation to the Bolivian land legislation

The aim of this thesis is to analyze forms of land tenure and land use of two rural communities in Cochabamba in relation to the Bolivian land legislation. Land use and tenure in the Bolivian Valley region have developed a complex and flexible hybrid of communal and individual property, which balance the livelihood strategies of the local peasants (campesinos) according to the prevailing conditions (economic situation, crop cycle, climatic conditions, demography, and other factors). In 1996, Law No. 1715, also known as INRA law (Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria), was adopted. It introduced the concept of indigenous territories by creating a property form called Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs), thus for the first time combined land legislation and demands of the various indigenous movements in Bolivia. It made a distinction between land property that fulfills a social function (solar campesino, pequeña propiedad, propiedad comunaria, tierras comunitarias de origen) and land property that fulfils an economic-social function (propriedades medianas, empresas agropecuarias). The promulgation was followed by a land-titling process, whereas about 97% of the Bolivian territory is subject to this process. In 2006, the government of Evo Morales modified the law, which mostly resulted in an acceleration of proceedings and a reduction of costs of the land titling process. Still, until the end of 2009, property rights have not been clarified for 52% of the land.

While there are many studies on TCOs, not much research has been conducted on the implications of the INRA law for the territoriality of the “ordinary” campesino community (campesino is a class distinction, meanwhile indígena and originario are ethnic distinctions). Which are the land use and land tenure properties in the communities? By which institutions and social relations are they regulated?  How do land conflicts arise and how are they dealt with? Which criteria do the campesinos apply to evaluate land and territory? What is the relation between existing land use and the tenure properties of the communities and the INRA law?

The field work was conducted in two communities in the Municipio of Sipe Sipe, Quillacollo Province. They were chosen because COMPAS, an international network for endogenous development, had already established a research partnership in these communities. The two communities show different geographical, economic, ecological and historical features and are either completely or partially situated in the Tunari National Park. The park law of 1991 de facto expropriates the communities; nonetheless, it has not been implemented in this part of the national park.
The existing forms of land property, which combine community and family property, derive from the hacienda-system, which dominated in Cochabamba until the Agrarian Reform of 1953. The access to the community territory and the use of the natural resources is regulated by an agrarian union as well as by various social institutions.
Families in the community which is less accessible depend mostly on agricultural production, while those living in the community situated near a small town usually combine agriculture with wage work. In both communities, the formal education of children, as well as temporal and permanent migration, represent fundamental household-strategies.
The research data show that the campesinos diversify their livelihood-strategies in order to avoid non-sustainable smallholding. These strategies consist in agricultural production on different altitudinal belts (vertical control of the ecology), education, migration, market integration, wage labor, and in case of one of the communities, individual land property.
The land tenure system is characterized by inter-legality or a bricolage of formal legislation and customary law. In both communities, the INRA law plays a marginal role at the moment. Nevertheless, this is likely to change if other action-guiding conditions change.
It was shown that the land use and land tenure system in the communities is complex, flexible and persistent. It combines different forms of property and allows varying forms of organization depending on the area (rural/urban).

Picture: In discussion groups, villagers identified the boundaries of their village and commented on the features of its territory.

Contact addresses

North:

Helen Gambon
Schwarzenburgstrasse 6
3007 Bern
E-Mail: helengambon@students.unibe.ch

Stephan Rist
Centre for Development and Environment
Institute of Geography
University of Berne
Hallerstrasse 10
CH-3012 Berne
Switzerland
E-Mail: Stephan.Rist@cde.unibe.ch

Partner in the South:

Dora Ponce
Gilberto Lisperguer
Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO)
Av. Petrolera km 4 1/2 (Fac. Agronomía).
Casilla 3392
Cochabamba
BOLIVIA
Phone/Fax: +591 4 4252601 / 4252602
E-Mail:          DoraPonce@agruco.org
GilbertoLisperguer@agruco.org