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INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT
AND POST-DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA
FERNANDO DE LA CUADRA
1
“Do not misunderstand us. Our people do not look to the past. Like
the rest of the world, we want to advance, improve our lives and
the lives of future generations, but we also want to control this de-
velopment, our lands and our lives. We demand participation, both
in decision-making and in the benefits of development.”
Anonymous member of a Philippine tribe
The notion of development
The notion of development was incorporated into social theory in 1945, at the end
of the Second World War as a way of responding to the challenges of reconstructing the
countries that had been either directly or indirectly affected by the world war. Thus, the
allied countries put forward a new world order in which the calamities that afflicted the
planet during the first four decades of the 20th century would be purged from the face of
the earth: war, totalitarianism, prejudice, racial discrimination, unemployment and poverty.
Still during the war, in 1941, the allied forces drafted the Atlantic Charter which stated
that signatory countries were committed to seeking ways for all the free inhabitants of the
planet to enjoy better economic and social well-being. These objectives were re-affirmed in
the founding Principles, the Charter of the United Nations, signed by 51 countries at the
San Francisco Conference in June 1945. The UN Charter clearly sets out the objectives
of economic and social development in one of its paragraphs which proclaims that the
peoples of the United Nations are determined to promote progress and better standards
of life in larger freedom, employ international organizations to promote the economic
and social advancement of all peoples and achieve international cooperation in solving
problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character and in promoting
1. Doutor em Ciências Sociais pelo programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais em Desenvolvimento, Agricultura
e Sociedade (CPDA) da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Professor Adjunto da Faculdade de Direito do
Centro Universitário Estácio, Fortaleza. E-mail: fmdelacuadra@gmail.com
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
24 De la Cuadra
and encouraging respect for human rights and the fundamental freedoms for all without
distinction as to race, sex, language or religion (UNITED NATIONS, 2013).
Subsequently, within the framework of the United Nations’ activities, a Commis-
sion was formed to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Stéphane Hessel
(2011), in his manifesto “Time for Outrage!”, reminds us that one of the main objectives
of the above Declaration is to enshrine the basic rights which would enable people to free
themselves from the threats totalitarianism poses to society and move toward a future of
development and civilized, harmonious coexistence between all the countries of the world.
Within this context, the issue of development was an essential component on the
agenda to be drafted and implemented by the international organizations re-founded after
the end of World War II. In Latin America, given the difficulties in obtaining external
supplies during the war, concepts to overcome dependency on imported industrialized
goods gained increasing importance among the region’s economists and policy makers,
particularly in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay.
This becomes more evident at the end of the 1940s when a group of experts at
the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), under the leadership of Raúl
Prebisch, drafted a set of recommendations to governments emphasizing the urgent
need to set up robust import substitution industrialization programs - in particular those
involving capital assets - and carry out vast infrastructure (roads, ports, railways, airports,
water ways, telecommunications, dams, irrigation systems, hydro and/or thermal power
plants, schools, hospitals and so on) investment plans.
When ECLAC was established in 1948, explicit references were made to the fact
that, in addition to resolving the economic problems which resulted from the war, the
“commission will dedicate itself to studying and seeking solutions to the problems caused
to Latin America by the global economic imbalance” (CEPAL, 1969).
i
Solutions involving
these propositions were mainly based on stimulating industrialization processes and eco-
nomic growth. It is clear that this conception of development was strongly underpinned
by a teleological vision which supposed that the idea of economic and social progress is
associated to growth. Thus, most of ECLAC’s researchers and economists adhered to
evolutionist currents of thought which conceived social dynamics as a chain of progressive
changes leading to a higher level of material, social and cultural well-being.
ii
These concepts are closely associated to a fundamental current in the Latin Ameri-
can social thinking: the theory of modernization. Gino Germani and other modernization
theorists follow an interpretation which sees the evolution-modernization of society as
an institutionalization process of transformations and argue that societies always move
from a traditional state - where agricultural and non-industrialized processes predomi-
nate - to a modern, urban and industrial society. This transformation comes about not
only through changes in a society’s scientific-technological structures and artefacts, but
mainly through acquiring the values of modernity. That is, by adhering to concepts of
progress and change which are ultimately expressed in the behavioural patterns which
governs relationships in modern society.
This model reaches its peak and has a huge influence on ECLAC’s thinkers, in
particular through the work of José Medina Echevarría who, from an essentially sociolo-
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
25Indigenous people, socio-envirinmental conict and post-development in Latin America
gical point of view, manages to associate this set of concepts with the notion of growth,
with emphasis on topics such as economic stagnation, full employment and the role of
the State in stimulating the private sector and in creating productive capacity for the
countries of the region. Thus, modernization and growth are fused together into develo-
pmentist theories which explain the causes of Latin American underdevelopment based
on a lack of public and private investment, the absence of endogenous technological
development, and conservative and traditional practices and beliefs which continued to
be held by a significant part of society.
Thus, at the heart of ECLAC’s thinking we find, to a varying degree of emphasis
(depending of the level of adherence to the theory), the notion that Latin America is,
broadly speaking, underdeveloped and ‘backwards’ compared to industrialized countries.
On this basis, a situation emerges where step-by-step or sequential advancement is pos-
sible, starting from underdevelopment to achieve full development and industrialization.
This presupposes that for countries to develop they need to meet a number of structural
(economic) and cultural requirements so that they can be considered to be moving to-
ward a higher state, that is, a modern industrial society. Thus, it is possible to talk about
developing countries, because, as well as setting out an evolutionary route to become a
conceptually more superior society, this trajectory also presupposes that the stages ne-
cessary to reach development are the very same stages followed by developed countries.
This resulted in numerous policies which tended to increase the rationalization of
public administration and also affect various aspects of social life, inculcating values and
attitudes, and creating institutions and organizations in conformity with modernity, that
is, worthy of developed societies. In this way, in both evolutionist and historical-dialectic
versions, development and progress presuppose a change toward a higher end. That is,
toward the improvement of the human condition. Both versions of development, with
some alterations and additions, remain part of contemporary thinking and form the very
epistemological foundations (which often remains latent and unquestioned) of economic,
sociological and historical theories.
Just as the concept of development is inseparable from the modern discourse, it
is also intimately associated to capitalism as the hegemonic means of production and all
its various historical forms. In the so-called Third World, the problem of development
emerges with the fall of colonialism and the gradual process of the consolidation of inde-
pendent Nation-States. However, new States have remained linked to their old Metro-
polises through international trade. Therefore, the problem of development in the Third
World takes the following form: how to transform productively and culturally backwards
(underdeveloped) societies so they can catch up with those at a more advanced stage of
development. The aim of transformations proposed by development theories is to enable
Third World countries to successfully participate in the global capitalist dynamics.
Some countries were able to develop certain sectors or regions whilst keeping other
areas underdeveloped. This is called structural dualism, that is, the simultaneous existence
of dichotomous structures, often conceived as autonomous zones which are poorly connec-
ted, when not totally disconnected.
iii
Other analyses subsequently emerged which tended
to complement and transform this point of view. In a version of the so-called dependency
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
26 De la Cuadra
theory, underdevelopment is not conceived as a stage or period prior to development, but
rather as part of a broader historical process. In this sense, as André Gunder Frank argues,
underdevelopment and development are “two sides of the same coin” or part of the same
universal historical process in which the roots of underdevelopment are found in the links
between external dependency and the internal subordination of exploitation enclaves. In
other words, both processes are simultaneous in historical terms and functionally linked.
Here dualism, therefore, is only revealing the existence of two interacting worlds which
mutually influence one another, permanently reproducing and fuelling the development
of some (advanced industrialized states) and the underdevelopment of others (peripheral,
backward and dependent states). Therefore, underdevelopment is not the direct outcome
of a lack of capital, technological backwardness or the endurance of pre-modern values.
Rather it is a concomitant condition of an unequal and combined dynamics created by
capitalism (LÖWY, 1998).
The logical consequence of this conception is that within each country, forms of
structural dualism are more an expression of internal colonialism, where more developed
areas have an ongoing relationship of effective domination - the extraction and exploita-
tion of raw materials and the workforce - with hinterland regions which remained underde-
veloped precisely because of this unequal type of relationship (STAVENHAGEN, 1967).
The consequences of this development conception
Although, at the time, other theories emerged which dispute this conception - such
as the dependency theory of unequal and combined development or internal colonialism
- we argue that this notion of development persists to this day in that it is associated to
the progress of nations through modernization, economic growth and a cultural model
inspired by the West.
Furthermore, this notion of development is linked to a Eurocentric and linear nar-
rative of human history, in particular a mode of construction of the modern world which
establishes specific colonial/imperial power relations and is closely associated to a model
of anthropocentric thinking whose basis is the so-called Judeo-Cristian “original myth”.
Within this conception, human beings have absolute power over nature. According to
the Book of Genesis, after creating man and woman God commands: “Be fruitful and
multiply, replenish the earth and have dominion over it”. The first thing to consider is
that this command is arrogant, in terms of subjecting not only nature, but also all hu-
man beings considered “weaker and less inclined to get involved in games of power and
domination” (MAX-NEEF, 1986, p. 43).
Second, this command refers to the schism between humanity and nature, a break
away from what Fromm called the human-nature symbiosis. When God created man in
his image and likeness, He raised him to a higher level than all other inhabitants of the
planet. The supposition, therefore, implies that there are no limits to man’s exploitation
of his environment. The rational character of human beings and the rationalization of
economic life present in Protestant asceticism have allowed the human mind to separate
itself from the world of things and to place man at a higher plane, representing an onto-
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
27Indigenous people, socio-envirinmental conict and post-development in Latin America
logical rupture. This rupture is the distinctive mark of the modernity project formulated
by the enlightenment philosophers which eventually became the hegemonic narrative for
understanding the fate of humanity in its entirety. In Edgardo Lander’s words:
“According to the European consciousness of modernity, these successive
separations became intertwined with others which provided the basis for
the essential contrast established - with the configuration of the colonial
world - between Western and European man (conceived as modern and
advanced) and the ‘Others’ - the rest of the world’s cultures and peoples”
(LANDER, 2005, p. 26).
This foundational origin of modernity and capitalism are responsible for the type
of relationship established between the “developed” world and nature and the so-called
uncivilized or backward lands. It not only justifies a productivist model based on the
supposition that resources are infinite, or endless, but also naturalizes various forms of
dispossession, plundering and domination to which nature and indigenous communities
or peoples inhabiting specific territories are subjected.
The current environmental crisis leads us precisely to question this epistemological
perspective and its resulting model which provides the basis for the deeply-rooted belief
in the supremacy of human beings over the rest of the species and nature - which human
beings can exploit without restrictions. Thus, this environmental crisis represents, above
all, a crisis in the Western way of thinking, a particular way of conceiving the world which
divides the mind from the body and knowledge from the traditional, sacred and magical
wisdom of the “primitive” peoples. It is precisely this knowledge, validated by science,
which produced a fragmented and reified world through the control and domination of
nature. The accumulated evidence of the last three decades provides compelling testi-
mony of a phenomenon which has been revealed and discussed for many decades: the
exhaustion of the productive and predatory model that increasingly threatens the material
foundations of life on the planet. Indeed, given the successive environmental and “cli-
mate” catastrophes the planet has experienced since Chernobyl and the Fukushima plant
tragedy, it is no exaggeration to argue that we are at an advanced stage of a structural
crisis - a hazardous situation fabricated by man - affecting not only the capitalist system
but the sustainability of our species. The 21st century began marked by catastrophes, an
unprecedented number of ecological and natural disasters in the history of the world.
iv
Nevertheless, notions of the ecological limits to economic growth and the inter-
-relations between development and the environment were reintroduced into Western
thinking
v
in the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s by an important group of theorists,
amongst whom Georgescu-Roegen, Kapp, Naess, Sachs and Schumacher. For example, in
his pioneering work “Small is Beautiful”, first published in 1973, the German-British eco-
nomist, Ernst F. Schumacher, offers a resounding critique of the productive model prevalent
in Western societies which could result in environmental degradation and the destruction
of life itself. His objective was to understand the problem in its entirety and seek ways to
develop new production methods and new consumer agendas in accordance with a life-style
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
28 De la Cuadra
projected to be permanent and sustainable. Despite a difference in focus and the somewhat
militant positions of each of these thinkers, they all have in common the fact that they vehe-
mently criticize the production and consumption model inherent to capitalist development.
This model, which generated the exponential growth in the exploitation of natural
resources and stimulated unbridled consumerism, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere
countries, is responsible both for provoking the depletion of resources and producing
tonnes of waste, causing water, air and earth pollution on a daily basis.
vi
Every year million
hectares of woods and thousands of species are lost, irreversibly reducing and eroding
biological diversity. Rainforests continue to be destroyed and the world loses approximately
17 million hectares, equivalent to the size of four Switzerlands. As there are not enough
trees to absorb excess CO
2
, the greenhouse gas effect and global warming increase. Des-
pite the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer will not recover until the middle of the 21st
century. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (370 parts per million) has increased by 32%
since the 19th century, reaching the highest concentration levels in the last 20 million
years. Today over 23,000 million tonnes of CO
2
a year are released into the atmosphere,
accelerating climate change. According to the forecasts, carbon dioxide emissions will
have increased by 75% between 1997 and 2020. Every year we emit approximately 100
million tonnes of sulphur dioxide, 70 million tonnes of nitrogen oxide and 200 million
tonnes of carbon monoxide, as well as 60 million tonnes of suspended particulates, ag-
gravating the problems caused by acid rain, tropospheric ozone and local air pollution.
There is no doubt that the set of environmental indicators studied in the last de-
cades increasingly show that if humanity does not change its model of development, in
less than a century the survival of the planet and the human species will be put at serious
risk. Mészáros (2011) reminds us that with each new phase of forced postponement, the
contradictions of the capitalist system can only increase, bringing ever greater dangers
to our own survival.
One of the greatest changes observed by scientists is climate change, a phenome-
non we can no longer ignore. Although today it is undeniable, climate change has been
occurring for a long time, systematically transforming the Earth. This is what is understood
by Global Environmental Change, namely, changes taking place in the earth, atmosphere,
ocean and biosphere systems which are considerably more extensive and complex than
climate change. Together, Global Environmental Change and climate change form a
destructive mix caused by a number of human activities (of anthropogenic origin)
vii
and
dependent on various factors such as the size of the earth’s population, its level of energy
consumption, specific technological mixes and the predatory use of natural resources.
This constellation of factors have resulted in, amongst other things, the greenhouse
gas effect and global warming, the thinning of the ozone layer, changes in biodiversity,
desertification, acid rain and both underground and surface water pollution. Though
almost all scientists agree about the reality of climate change, there is still considerable
uncertainty about the actual consequences of this phenomenon. Scientific forecasts have
improved over time and a recent study estimates that by 2100 10% of the planet will
be affected by climate change.
viii
In Latin America it is expected that the major impacts
of these changes will affect specifically agriculture, fishing and access to clean water.
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29Indigenous people, socio-envirinmental conict and post-development in Latin America
Peasant and indigenous communities, in particular, will be harmed, as well as small and
medium-sized producers.
Therefore, one of the first considerations to be made regarding climate change is
that it affects populations and countries unevenly, reproducing in this way pre-existing
inequalities in other spheres of the economic, political and social reality. Indeed, studies
carried out by ECLAC and the World Bank show that developing countries are more
exposed to the negative consequences of climate change. It is expected that they will
bear the brunt - between 75% and 80% - of the negative climatic effects: hurricanes,
floods, droughts, desertification, increases in sea level, and changes in agricultural cycles
and the rainfall pattern.
Another finding is that the accumulated effects of greenhouse gas emissions (GHE),
one of the main causes of climate change, cannot be addressed exclusively through mi-
tigation policies. The problem is even more serious: although a drastic and immediate
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is possible, it will not have a significant impact
on the climate. Policies for adapting to these changes are now required. They include
measures such as a more egalitarian and universal provision of drinking water, sanitation,
food security, access to better health services and decent education.
This is precisely because, as we have previously pointed out - in addition to the
existing vulnerabilities which affect the world’s poor, these populations are also vulnerable
to climate catastrophes. Their vulnerability is linked to inequality and exclusion which
place certain social groups at greater risk than others. Furthermore, given that climate
change impacts are unevenly spread, both extreme weather events and the gradual trans-
formation of the environment disproportionately affect more vulnerable human groups
living in rural or urban poverty, indigenous people, the elderly, women, children and the
sick. These social sectors are subjected to a “double exposure”, that is, to the disastrous
effects of climate change and a constellation of problems associated to their precarious
condition, understood as the result of socio-economic deficits or needs (LAMPIS, 2013).
We can, therefore, conclude that climate change is not only linked to the behaviour
pattern of nature, but is essentially based on the close interrelations between environ-
mental dynamics and social processes. Thus, it is essential to consider the connection
between the changing state of the ecosystems with the development model implemented
by the governments of Latin America, both in history and now. Within this context, the
impact climate change will have in the continent and adaptation efforts to overcome
the disastrous consequences of global warming, as well as water and soil pollution are a
concern and represent a challenge, not only in terms of democratizing the use of resources,
but also in terms of a response to guarantee the conditions for the survival of the region’s
inhabitants. Ensuring that ecosystems and communities who live therein can overcome the
damaging effects of extreme weather events (environmental resilience) is also a challenge.
Socio-environmental conflicts
Social-environmental conflicts can be defined as disputes involving the use, ac-
cess and ownership of natural resources and environmental services by groups of actors
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
30 De la Cuadra
who have different power and interests, and defend different conceptions regarding the
management of public goods. As can be observed, in this definition the material aspects
of these resources are emphasized. Other conceptions show that even when conflicts
between groups and actors are originally based on material and tangible aspects, they also
involve different discourses in terms of the values and meanings these actors attribute to
resources within a particular ecological context.
Therefore, environmental conflicts can be due to the purposes different actors and
economic agents (individuals or companies) assign to land use and natural resources. One
the one hand, they are sustained by the cultural value systems which different societies or
communities have built around particular resources and, on the other, the different uses
these resources acquire due to multiple productive activities. This values are based on a
particular construction of modernity which values Western scientific knowledge above
all other types of knowledge and understands progress as an essential mark based on the
idea of growth and the exploitation of human and natural resources. It is clear, therefore,
as pointed out earlier, that this notion is founded upon an ontology and epistemology
which became the civilization model for the entire human race.
In order to elucidate this situation a number of organizations and study centres
have mapped numerous cases of conflicts between indigenous populations, transnational
companies and/or governments.
ix
Nevertheless, two of these conflicts seem particularly
emblematic, considering that they occur in countries described as progressive and which
have policies differentiated by region with regard to indigenous populations. These are
the cases of Bolivia and Peru, countries governed by presidents who descend from the
indigenous populations of their own countries: Evo Morales Ayma of Aymara descent
and Ollanta Humala who is a descendent of the Incas. Both cases are expounded below.
3.1. Bolivia. The TIPNIS Case
The Plurinational State of Bolivia was officially instituted on 9th February 2009,
when the new “Plurinational” Constitution was promulgated during Bolivia’s re-founding
process. The Constitution enshrines 35 nationalities as forming the Bolivian Nation.
When Morales reassumed as President, he devolved all the old Republican symbols
to the Legislative Assembly and substituted them by others representing the new Pluri-
national State and the multi-coloured indigenous flag Wiphala was raised alongside the
national flag. Meanwhile, Morales announced that the enforcement of the new State was
essentially a movement of the people which re-founded the Bolivian homeland.
The Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South American
(IIRSA) is a forum aiming to promote common policies in the areas of transport, infras-
tructure, energy and communication in order to support the regional integration process.
One of IIRSA’s main projects is the building of a transoceanic road to serve as a production
corridor, increasing the efficient flow of international trade and exports. This road crosses
the Bolivian territory from Puerto Suarez in the border with Mato Grosso do Sul (Corumbá,
Brazil) to the Chilean border. It has kept to its original trajectory in Bolivia integrating the
departments of Cochabamba in the centre of the country with the eastern region of Beni.
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31Indigenous people, socio-envirinmental conict and post-development in Latin America
The Bolivian government argues that Beni is a region with high agro-industrial potential.
However, it has remained outside the developing axis and dependent on the department
of Santa Cruz, an important industrial development zone and a significant stronghold for
the opposition against President Morales’ administration (RIVERO, 2011).
One of the main arguments in favour of the Initiative for the Integration of Re-
gional Infrastructure in South American IIRSA project is that, historically, the regions of
Beni and Pando have been isolated from the rest of the country and that this road would
enable both provinces and the North of Bolivia to have better access to important cities
such as Cochabamba and La Paz. “Bolivia and Beni need roads to attain economic and
social development and these roads must be built through areas which are economically
viable and bring greater social benefits.” Therefore, the Bolivian government project aims
to integrate a sector of the territory which, according to the assessment of authorities,
has so far been excluded from the progress experienced by the rest of the country. In this
spirit, the vice-president of Bolivia, Álvaro García Linera, stated in an interview, that “our
fellow citizens are extremely right to be concerned about the future of the forest, but it
is equally legitimate to ask for a road to link different regions”. He afterwards suggested
that the indigenous demonstrations were instigated by the right in order to destabilize
the government in an attempt to restore the conservatives to power.
However, the conflicts which emerged with the project have many facets. The first
problem observed, relates to the road’s projected trajectory which cuts, or literally divides
in half, the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS), a 12,000
km² environmental reserve, very rich in biodiversity. The park is home to four indigenous
ethnicities who have ownership of this territory through a constitutional mandate. They
are the Mojeños, Yuracarés, Chimanes and Trinitarios. The 306-kilometre stretch betwe-
en Villa Tunari (Cochabamba) and San Ignacio de Moxos (Beni) cuts across TIPNIS,
affecting the livelihood of over 50,000 people who are members of the four ethnicities
settled in the region. This means the destruction of an area which is doubly protected
by the Constitution - as a national park and an indigenous territory - and has a direct
impact on the daily lives of the local communities. Furthermore, there is opposition to
activities causing irreversible damage to the natural biodiversity and the environment.
In particular the activities of logging and oil groups who are interested in accessing the
park’s resources (LEÓN y ARZE, 2013).
In addition to these objections, local communities have denounced the lack of
consultation on the part of the authorities regarding road building activities, in compliance
with the ILO resolution 169 which determines that indigenous communities living in
territories where any type of venture or project is to take place must be consulted by the
relevant authorities.
It is precisely due to this situation that, from the beginning, the organizations of
which these indigenous nations are members have expressed their opposition to the plan-
ned route by holding various types of demonstrations such as marches, occupations, road
blocks and vigils. The moment of greatest tension occurred when the Bolivian Foreign
Minister, David Choquehuanca, decided to meet the protesters who intended to march
to La Paz and found themselves blocked by peasant-settlers of a different ethnicity, with
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32 De la Cuadra
the support of the police.
x
Forced by a group of women to head a front line column to
break the military barricade, the Foreign Minister was “rescued” by the police. Violent
confrontation ensued and many protesters were hurt, including women and children.
After this incident, the Defence Minister announced his irrevocable resignation and
forced president Morales to suspend the road project. Morales also announced that a
draft bill would be send to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, making the TIPNIS
territory “inviolable”. “This is governing by obeying the people”, remarked Morales when
he announced the measure.
In addition, the Bolivian president declared that the suspension of the road project
would be maintained until the TIPNIS communities were consulted on this matter. An
ad hoc Commission was formed which included representatives of the Catholic Church
and the Human Rights Commission. These institutions must produce a report based on
a consultation involving all 64 communities living in the indigenous territory, containing
information on the positive or negative response of the population toward the road pro-
ject, as well as information on whether the regulation on Protected Areas was applied.
Within this context, the Commission’s starting point is the pre-existing definition
included in the Plurinational State of Bolivia Constitution in one of its articles: “Where
there is overlap between protected areas and indigenous peasant territories, management
will be shared and subjected to the norms and procedures of the nations themselves and
the original peasant indigenous people, respecting the objectives which underpin the
creation of these areas”.
However, once the consultation with 36 communities was completed, the Commis-
sion denounced that the process had been conducted under considerable local authority
pressure and without the necessary information for the main actors to be able understand
the aforementioned project in detail.
The transoceanic road project is currently being re-assessed due to a new route
proposal from Villa Turari to Trinidad following TIPNIS’ external borders. Nevertheless,
Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Sub-central (SCIIS) group members are still opposed to the
project and consider the new route a threat to their territory because it would drive the
expansion of the settling process in the northern part of the territory. The settlers, on
the other hand, see the project as an opportunity to have access to new lands, natural
resources and markets. Furthermore, the indigenous organizations themselves are also
divided. In recent months this resulted in new clashes involving physical violence between
the different conflicting parties (LA JORNADA, 2013).
Therefore, despite the temporary suspension of the road building project, the
tendency is for the conflict to continue and be further aggravated by the fact that the
indigenous organization itself is divided into two irreconcilable groups, as reported by
human rights organizations and exposed in the Bolivian and international press.
3.2. The Camisea Case in Peru
The second emblematic case considered regarding conflicts between indigenous
people and development is the case of the Camisea gas project. The aim of this program
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33Indigenous people, socio-envirinmental conict and post-development in Latin America
is to expand the exploration of natural gas underground deposits in the Kugapakori-
-Nahua-Nanti (KNN) Reserve, 500 kilometres east of Lima, in Cuenca Ucayaly, Cusco
Department, Convención Province, Southeastern Peru. The reserve, known by its
acronym KNN was established in 1990 to protect the territorial rights of the nahuas,
natis, machiguegas, as well as other peoples living inside the reserve who have had limited
relations with the rest of society, including contact with other indigenous communities.
A fundamental factor in its creation was “the tragic experience of contact some nahua
communities had with a group of loggers in 1984, resulting in the death of half the nahua
population through illnesses contracted via this contact” (CODPI, 2013). During the
following decades, both illegal loggers and missionaries persevered with their incursions
into these territories, the latter in order to evangelize the indigenous communities, thus
continuing to threaten the lives of the nahuas and other groups settled in the region.
In 1987, oil prospecting led the transnational company Shell to find large gas
deposits in the Camisea sector which became subsequently known as the San Martin
and Cashiriani gas fields. Extraction operations only started in 2004, when the Peruvian
authorities formally initiated the Camisea Consortium Project. The main objective of
this new mega project is to capture and transport natural gas from the above-mentioned
deposits to a liquid separation plant in Malvinas, on the banks of the Urubamba River
from where the gas can be subsequently transported via a pipeline to Lima and eventually
exported. Since 2002, the exploration of these deposits has been overseen by the Peruvian
government. It has expanded extraction operations in the Camisea region by creating
a corporate consortium involving a number of transnational companies such as Repsol,
Pluspetrol, Hunt Oil, SK Energy and Sonatrach.
The Peruvian government has, through a number of communiqués and press con-
ferences, reiterated the benefits of exploring these gas deposits to the country. Amongst
the reasons highlighted is that Peru will have an abundant supply of gas to replace other
fuels (in particular hydrocarbons) which have to be imported. Therefore, it is expected
that with these deposits the hydrocarbon trade balance will revert negative trends and
improve the country’s revenues and balance of payments. Another recurring argument
relates to job creation and economic growth in the gas reserve region, where the gas
processing or fractionation plants and the export terminal (Pisco) are found. Finally, it
is argued that the project will also contribute to improve the environment through the
use of a less polluting source of energy.
By contrast, those opposing the project’s expansion argue that the peoples inhabi-
ting the area are threatened with extinction. They claim that the indigenous territories
will become the site for conducting a number of seismic studies and for constructing 21
wells, a liquid gas pipeline and other infrastructure works associated to the extraction
projects (roads, machine rooms, etc.). For these opponents:
“In practice, this will mean sentencing to death a number of communities
and the likely disappearance of a whole system of thinking which is borne
out of and founded on their land. These are communities which have
for many years safeguarded the biodiversity of the Peruvian forest in this
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
34 De la Cuadra
region. All this, of course, in the name of progress and the common good”
(CODPI, op. cit.: p. 2).
Thus, different indigenous organizations in the region and across Peru have reques-
ted the intervention of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD). A recent letter addressed to President Ollanta Humala,
signed by 58 organizations demanded that the project be immediately stopped and that the
Peruvian government issue a public statement recognizing the inviolability of the KNN
Reserve and adjacent territories “to guarantee the survival and the rights of indigenous
peoples in voluntary isolation and to meet Peru’s obligations in terms of human rights
and the environment”. The letter finished by concluding that if this does not happen
and the expansion goes ahead the government “will not only be violating national and
international laws, but will also be overseeing a development project whose consequences
may be lethal to one of the most vulnerable indigenous groups in the country”. Thus,
injustice to unprecedented proportions will be countenanced “threatening the existence
of a whole world, an entire system of thought and social organization: those of the indi-
genous peoples who live in the territories which are now threatened”.
Final considerations
A first consideration to emerge from the exposition above relates to the fact that the
aim of questioning the evolutionist, Western and Eurocentric conception of development
is not to improve the definition of this concept, but to radically question the way which is
has been employed in Latin America and other “underdeveloped” countries. Moreover, it
leads us to reflect on fact that if there is a single roadmap that leads us to development,
the indigenous people must necessarily follow this route, thus abdicating other types of
knowledge and Cosmo visions which - according to this premise - turn them into pre-
-modern or backwards societies. Such a development model would exclude precisely the
interests, the words, visions, and wisdom of those who should apparently most benefit
from development, namely, the continent’s poorer populations and indigenous peoples.
A recent study pertinently argues that “the demands of indigenous populations
for land emerges from their need to conserve and/or defend their systems of production
and traditional ways of life in face of the growing pressure from the capitalist system and
the expansion of the institutional State”. There is no doubt that this pressure also carries
with it an ideological-civilizing component which - in addition to transforming the space
occupied by indigenous populations - also disrupts, in the medium-term, their vernacular
identitary associations. Indeed, the main object of many of these communities is not the
acquisition of material goods. They tend to give preference to their social associations,
cultural identities, the precursors of reciprocity within a different economic system, where
alternative forms of exchange and mutual help prevail.
Refuting the above discourse means believing that the development concept was
built upon an inevitable historical narrative, a naturalized product, that can be applied to
all peoples. For this reason, we usually end up confronting the forcefulness of an ethno-
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
35Indigenous people, socio-envirinmental conict and post-development in Latin America
centric vision which constructs its modernizing project based on the notion of unlimited
growth and exploitation of natural and human resources. Thus, financial criteria are impo-
sed which go against the objectives of sustainability, the preservation of the ecosystem and
the cultural values of the peoples who inhabit these ecosystems. As Escobar reminds us,
“It is not only ecological factors and conditions define the practices which determine how
nature is appropriated and used, but also cultural values”. This Colombian anthropologist
warns us that “the struggles for cultural difference, ethnic identity and local autonomy of
a particular territory contribute to redefine the environmental conflicts agenda beyond
economics and ecology” (ESCOBAR, 2010, p. 103).
The two cases here described reveal a permanent and inextricable tension betwe-
en the development objectives of nations, founded upon concepts such as progress and
growth and a broader conception which sees humanity as essentially integrated within its
environment and supported by the notion of the good life. In his classic study on alterity,
Tzvetan Todorov (1991) asks: how can we accept the other, someone who is distinct
from us, as both equal and different? This question becomes even more incisive when
reflecting on the occurrence of ethnocentrism, that is, the tendency to bring the values
of the society to which I belong to the level of a universal category. Since the conquest
of America, this Eurocentric vision has built an interpretation of the world by ignoring
other languages, other knowledge and other hermeneutics. That is why the indigenous
people’s struggle also comprises a struggle for achieving equality within difference, for
having the same rights as the rest of “civilized” citizens, within a framework of respect
for what is distinct and different. Recognition of difference within equality is an arduous
and ongoing task to which the communities of the American continent are committed.
For this reason, treating conflicts of ownership and use of natural resources within
a broader context means to consider the different interests at hand, in particular, meeting
the specific needs of communities living in these territories. It also means considering
the effects of conflicts on the most vulnerable segments of society. This involves not only
solving the biophysical risks associated to entrepreneurial or other types of activities which
often lead to “natural catastrophes”, but above all, to take into account the social and
cultural impacts of applying specific development models which prioritize the concept of
growth and the generation of material wealth and, as a result, lead to environmentally
unsustainable, socially unequal and culturally uniform solutions. Therefore, it is essential
to counteract the unilateral narrative of modernity, development and globalization which
reinforces a utilitarian and productivist attitude toward nature and the rest of humanity.
The task, therefore, is to conceive a model which can overcome this westernizing episte-
mology and its consequent narrow vision of development to build a new type of thinking
based on the certainty that across the world knowledge is diverse and that this diversity
constantly enriches our human experience.
Ambiente & Sociedade n São Paulo v. XVIII, n. 2 n p. 23-40 n abr.-jun. 2015
36 De la Cuadra
Notes
i Discussions prior to ECLAC’s foundation already pointed out that it was essential to focus on the need for international
action in terms of economic development and there was a “tendency to see the problems of the underdeveloped countries
from the perspective of the highly developed European countries and the USA” (SUNKEL y PAZ, 2004, p. 21).
ii The concepts of evolution, progress and growth are similar in that they all assume that there is gradual and continuous
change supported by scientific and technical advances which inevitably lead to improvements in human welfare.
iii According to Jacques Lambert, a French sociologist and demographer, Brazil comprised two different countries. In his
classic study entitled Two Brazils, Lambert compares and contrasts the urban, industrial and prosperous South with better
living conditions, with the rural, poor, archaic and undernourished Northeast (LAMBERT, 1963).
iv A report from the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), a United Nations agency, stated that 2010
saw the greatest number of natural disasters recorded in the last three decades. The number of people who lost their lives
in such incidents during this year reached 300,000.
v We call this a re-introduction because we argue that the origin of these concerns are found in the visionary work of
one of Marx’s contemporaries, William Morris, who had already introduced elements of an eco-socialist vision into his
writings, in particular in his utopian novel News from Nowhere.
vi For example, it is estimated that if the average energy consumption in the United States was to become the norm of
the entire global population, known oil reserves would be exhausted in just 19 days.
vii In 2007 an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stated that: “There is new and compelling
evidence that most of the global warming observed over the last fifty years is attributable to human activities” (IPCC, 2007).
viii The study, published by the US’s National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), claims that among the regions which
could be most severely affected by climate change are South of the Amazon, Southern Europe, Central America and some
tropical regions in Africa (EL MERCURIO, 01/07/2013).
ix For example, a Map of conflicts between indigenous people and transnational companies was drawn up by the
Coordination for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with headquarters in Spain. Monitoring is also conducted by the
Monitoring Network of Amazon Socio-Environmental Conflicts, based in Peru and the Latin American Observatory for
Environmental Conflicts (OLCA) with headquarters in Santiago de Chile.
x The settlers, mainly of Aymara and Quechua descent, started to arrive in the 1960s. However, the large migratory
flux only began in the 1980s. Reasons included the relocation of miners from Oruro and Potosí. Another reason was the
expansion of coca production - and according to some - the peak of drug-trafficking activities which influenced t
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Submitted on: 15/08/2014.
Accepted on: 23/01/2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1809-4422ASOCEx02V1822015en
Resumo: O presente artigo pretende refletir a respeito das contradições existentes entre
uma concepção do desenvolvimento que se encontra ancorada na ideia de progresso,
industrialização e crescimento econômico e as cosmovisões dos povos originários, para os
quais os laços simbióticos mantidos entre o homem e a natureza supõem necessariamente
a intangibilidade e irredutibilidade dos recursos naturais como fonte de desenvolvimento
econômico e social. Pelo mesmo, se sustenta que uma visão adequada do desenvolvimento
tem que contemplar um giro epistémico no qual as conceições e saberes das comunidades
indígenas sejam incorporados para alterar radicalmente a relação sociedade/natureza e a
lógica altamente predatória do meio-ambiente e da vida humana que vem imperando até
nossos dias. Esta nova perspectiva que implica uma mudança no discurso e nas práticas
cotidianas do “saber” e do “fazer” é aquilo que alguns autores têm convencionado em
denominar como pós-desenvolvimento.
Palavras-Chave: Desenvolvimento; Povos originários; Conflitos socioambientais; Epis-
temologia Ambiental.
Resumen: El presente artículo pretende reflexionar sobre las contradicciones existentes
entre una concepción del desarrollo que se encuentra anclada en la idea de progreso,
industrialización y crecimiento económico y las cosmovisiones de los pueblos originarios,
para quienes el vínculo simbiótico prevalecientes entre el hombre con la naturaleza supone
necesariamente la intangibilidad e irreductibilidad de los recursos naturales como fuente
de desarrollo económico y social. Por lo mismo, se sustenta que una visión adecuada del
desarrollo debe contemplar un giro epistémico en el cual las concepciones y saberes de las
comunidades indígenas sean incorporados para alterar radicalmente la relación sociedad/
naturaleza y la lógica altamente predatoria del medioambiente y de la vida humana que
viene imperando hasta nuestros días. Esta nueva perspectiva que implica un cambio en el
discurso y en las prácticas cotidianas del “saber” y del “hacer” es lo que algunos autores
han consentido en denominar como postdesarrollo.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT
AND POST-DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA
FERNANDO DE LA CUADRA
Palabras Clave: Desarrollo; Pueblos originarios; Conflictos Socio-ambientales; Epistemo-
logía ambiental.
Abstract: The aims of this article is to reflect on the contradictions between a conception
of development that is anchored in the idea of progress, industrialization and economic
growth and worldviews of indigenous peoples, for whom the existing symbiotic bond between
man and nature necessarily involves intangibility and irreducibility of natural resources as
a source of economic and social development. For this reason, it is argued that a proper
view of development must include an epistemic shift in which the ideas and knowledge
of indigenous communities are built to radically alter society/nature and highly predatory
logic environment relationship and life human that comes currently prevail. This new
perspective implies a change in the discourse and everyday practices of “knowing” and
“doing” in what some authors have referred to as post-development.
Keywords: Development; Indigenous Peoples; Socio-environmental Conflict; Environ-
mental Epistemology.
