Although around 62% of Bolivia’s population considers itself indigenous – with the majority being Quechua and Aymara – indigenous peoples and rural communities have faced a long history of dispossession and discrimination. For this reason, the 2009 Constitution marked a profound transformation for the country, by guaranteeing the land rights of indigenous peoples and small farmers, recognising cultural diversity, promoting community-based management of natural resources and ushering in an unprecedented agrarian reform for the country.

As of 2023, Bolivia has managed to regularise and grant title to 94% of the land. Furthermore, of the 70% of land that has been regularised, 28% consists of smallholdings and 27% of Community Lands of Origin. Despite legal progress, large estates persist, and new pressures on land are emerging which have a serious impact on the lives of peasants and indigenous peoples. These include deforestation and the expansion of the agricultural and livestock frontier, as well as mining, characterised by state discretion, illegality and a lack of environmental safeguards.

Furthermore, in recent years, there has been an increase in land seizures and land trafficking involving the use of violence. Under the pretext of the need to revive the Bolivian economy, there is no state intervention in response to criminal acts against the environment and indigenous rights.

NLC Bolivia supported advocacy efforts and monitored the process that led to the legal recognition of 272,000 hectares in favour of the Tacana people – TCO Tacana II – in the Amazonian region of the department of La Paz. Together with other partners, it provided legal advice, organised workshops, devised lobbying strategies and forged alliances that made this achievement possible.

Thanks to its efforts, amendments were introduced to the Statute of the Council of Ayllus and Communities of the Municipality of Taraco in 2021, promoting gender equality. Provisions were included establishing women’s right to hold public office, to acquire land regardless of their marital status, and to receive protection against acts of physical or psychological violence.

Furthermore, NLC Bolivia contributed to the recognition of 900 hectares belonging to the Ese Ejja indigenous community of Eyiyoquibo, which is home to more than 40 families, and also secured the State’s recognition of the community as a highly vulnerable group, thereby making its members eligible for special protection.