2.2.6 Balance of Territorial Consolidation
It seems that three processes have encouraged actions focused on the internal organization of the territories. On one hand, as a strategy of several peoples and their organizations so that once that their collective rights are recognized, they are able to order and arrange the “house” inside, after it has become a mess from the pulling and pushing that has meant the territorial defense under regulatory contexts that do not know of their specific ness as peoples. On the other hand, cooperation policies, who from different sources, speak of the need of territorial development, be it from the most conservative points of view, or from market-based viewpoints. And finally, those processes that generate at the public level, as part of decentralization and reform processes of States, or as a part of the requisites of legalization of indigenous lands.
The order and the territorial development, are words that are placed in organizations and communities, apparently as synonyms, but which in practice suppose different connotations, depending from where they come from.
Several initiatives generated by our peoples, such us those made by the Quechua Government of Pastaza and the Condor Shuar Government in Ecuador, from the CORPI in Peru, the OPIAC in Colombia, among others, enable us to point us certain common aspects that account for our point of view on the topic, which is currently under development, at least regarding to the efforts to place it under the current conditions.
An important element of this process is that it places emphasis on attaining before all, internal agreements and it does not depend so much on the concessions or obstacles from the State. In many cases, such as is the case of Ecuador, it has been thought that these internal agreements will later on be able to be placed into laws recognized by the State. In this way, the fact that a law will be the one that shapes the way peoples want to live would be overcome or avoided, and by the contrary, the law will be the one that recognizes the way in which determined peoples are determined to live.
The starting point for this process is the consolidation of culture itself. In this sense, Wiseman, are crucial guides. The participation of men and women from different generations, the forms in which every person conceives territory and its uses, is fundamental. The process requires also the use of modern techniques (GIS, GPS, geo-referenced information) and requires the knowledge of legal, political and economic contexts in which the interactions with the external world are derived. There are some cases in which bi-national or frontier peoples, reinforce their bonds as peoples and agree to measures of identity strengthening and territorial control, among other actions.
The difference with other initiatives that follow other guidelines is that, in these environmental more marked-oriented experiences, technical facts pre- dominant and our own knowledge are simple support tools or instruments and not the contrary. Given that there are few indigenous technicians specialized in these moderns skills, generally, the ones that coordinate these processes are non-indigenous people. In these initiatives, in addition, the unity of government and management is broken, since it seems that it is easily accepted for governments to be managed, but not to be governed. It is important to remember that these different approaches are given in the heart of the peoples themselves. It can be use to strengthen the identity and the existence of a community or aim at processes that are more similar in facts to integration schemes. Therefore, for example, the concern for OPIAC to avoid the imposition of a state conceived territorial order and thus their effort to incorporate the traditional spiritual vision as a base or foundation for the Indigenous Territorial Order.
