Conference:
Abstract: "Drawing on cases from Lowland South America, the paper first reviews the relationship between land tenure and recent indigenous initiatives in resource management in Amazonia. It indicates a logical link between secure land tenure and incentives to undertake sustainable land-use systems.
"However, the paper then opens the focus to illustrate an enlarged political arena in which Indian organizations now play an increasingly visible and prominent role. Previous links between native peoples and agents of the dominant national society were guided by a 'moral economy' characteristic of many patron-client relations. But recent colonization and the expansion of the State, and the subsequent proliferation of indigenous organizations now require restructuring of that 'moral economy.' A new equilibrium has not yet been established. Consequently, present inter-ethnic relations are characterized by mutual efforts to secure strong positions within a changing political arena, and struggles to establish a new political balance often takes precedence over land use programs.
"The process is illustrated clearly by the current emphasis of Indian organizations in several countries to obtain broad ethnic 'territories.' Criteria invoked for establishing the size and rights of these territories varies enormously. The paper suggests that goals are better understood by analysis of changing political relations between Indian organizations and the State rather than through evaluation of local economic needs or 'traditional' claims and rights to common property. Similarly, several recent indigenous resource management programs are shown to be means for obtaining political capital while restructuring the moral economy, rather than endeavors motivated purely by economics or conservation. The paper, therefore, acknowledges native peoples' primary concern with land and land rights. However, it suggests an analytical approach to the study of their common property disputes which includes changing political relationships, guided by an underlying set of norms and values, and by related rules of reciprocity."