YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN INDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE
Date
2022-11-22
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0000-0001-5956-0748
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Indigenous territories, which cover more than one-fourth of the world’s land surface, overlap with distinct ecological areas and harbour significant cultural and biological diversity. Indigenous Peoples’ stewardship of customary lands can provide critical contributions to ensure livelihood and food security, combat climate change, and promote environmental knowledge. Given their significance, the use and governance of Indigenous territories are important areas of study. Of major concern involves keeping broad and diverse community memberships invested in local territorial governance. Young people are an important community sub-group often underrepresented in governance and decision-making spaces and understudied in the literature on environmental governance and natural resource management. In this thesis, I investigated the experiences and perceptions of Indigenous youth regarding territorial use and governance using a qualitative research approach. This involved a case study of youth from the Indigenous Territory of Lomerío in the Chiquitania region of eastern Bolivia, supplemented by insights from rural development and natural resource practitioners working in Latin America and internationally. I found that Lomerío represents an atypical yet instructive case of how Indigenous (and other rural and remote) communities might find a way for their young people to participate more actively in local territorial governance. A role for youth in the case of Lomerío was underpinned by an enabling socio-cultural environment that is welcoming of young people and open to creating meaningful roles for them within local governance systems and structures. Based on insights from Lomerío and other cases identified in broader literature, this thesis generates recommendations for communities and support organizations, as well as government policymakers, on how youth-community-territory linkages can be enhanced.
Description
Keywords
Bolivia, environmental governance, gender, Indigenous territory, participation, youth
Citation
Degree
Master of Environment and Sustainability (M.E.S.)
Department
School of Environment and Sustainability
Program
Environment and Sustainability