Tipnis History

XNBolivia: Indigenous Groups to March Against TIPNIS Highway
Emily Achtenberg
Rebel Currents
On August 15, representatives of three indigenous groups and their supporters will begin a 375-mile trek from Trinidad in the Bolivian lowlands to the highland capital of La Paz, to protest the government’s plan to build a highway through their ancestral homeland known as the TIPNIS (Isiboro-SécureIndigenous Territory and National Park). The march opens a new chapter in the increasingly conflictive relationship between leftist president Evo Morales and the social movements that brought him to power.
Current road in the TIPNIS. Credit: Stephane Pauquet, SERNAP.The TIPNIS is both a national park and a self-governing territory, that combines indigenous autonomy (granted under Bolivia’s 2009Constitution) with environmental protection.  Legal title to the land and resources in this 3,860 square mile preserve is held in common by the Yuracaré, Moxeño, and Chimán people.
This unique model had its origins in an earlier cross-country march organized in 1990 by lowlands indigenous organizations, which Morales accompanied as leader of the Chapare coca growers union federation. The historicMarch For Territory and Dignity is credited with putting the demand for indigenous autonomy, and for a Constituent Assembly to make it possible, on the national agenda.
Twenty years later, Morales has officially inaugurated a 190-mile highway that threatens Proposed highway route. Credit: Pagina Sieteto bifurcate the TIPNIS territory (see map). The road will be built by a Brazilian constructionconglomerate, with 80% of its $415 million price tag financed by a loan from the Brazilian government.
The two sections of the road leading to and from the TIPNIS are already under construction. The controversial central section running through the protected zone, which has not yet undergone the required environmental review and community consultation process, is the subject of the currentcontroversy.  
Perspectives
In the government’s view, the road is critical to Bolivia’s economic development. It will provide a direct commercial link between the central department of Cochabamba, gateway to the Andean highlands, and the Amazonian Beni region, an important source of agricultural and meat products. Short-circuiting the traditional route through Santa Cruz, the road will cuttransportation time between the two departments in half--while conveniently challenging the economic dominance of Santa Cruz, a region that has posed the greatest political threat to the MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) government.
The road will also connect indigenous residents of the TIPNIS with the modern world, providing opportunities for expanded or new community enterprises such as sustainable forestryand ecotourism. But for community leaders of the TIPNIS and their supporters, the road threatens to destroy one of the most biodiverse regions of the world, with unique flora and fauna including 11 endangered animals and 3,000 species of plants. According to Adrián Nogales, the director of the national park service who opposes the government’s plan, the road will cause “the greatest ecologicaldestruction in Bolivia’s history,” along with major social and cultural damage.  
As community leaders explain, the problem is not the road itself but the access it will facilitate by interests hostile to conservation. These include illegal loggers, cocaleros using slash-and-burn agriculture to maximize production for the illegal market, and narcotraffickers. The community has clashed repeatedlywith such groups in the past, and last May burned down 40 shacks associated with a land invasion that had destroyed the surrounding forest.
A recent study predicts that within 18 years of the road’s construction, 64% of the TIPNIS will be deforested. YFPB, the state hydrocarbons company, has just announced its interest in exploring important petroleum reserves inside the park, posing an additional...