The question of rights to land and the legal recognition by means of title remains the single major unresolved issue affecting indigenous people in Guyana with the present Amerindian Act worsening some of the problems, according to a recent study completed by members of the Wapichan tribe.
And while in Guyana there are existing protections for traditional usufruct rights, existing laws are not based upon recognition of indigenous people’s rights and there are no transparent and objective criteria to determine which indigenous lands should be recognised and titled.
Importantly, the study stated that the government has given out much of “Guyana’s resource-rich interior to foreign and local mining and forestry interests. Many of these concessions lie in close proximity to titled indigenous lands or include untitled lands which indigenous peoples have traditionally owned or otherwise used or occupied.”
On a personal level the study found that the integrity of the Wapichan in the South Rupununi indigenous system of sustainable resource use is threatened by inadequate land titles that fail to recognise and protect the customary land tenure system and traditional extensive pattern of farming, hunting, fishing and gathering.
