Just months before it is scheduled to end, the Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) project has managed to demarcate only a quarter of the 68 villages it was supposed to complete and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs is seeking an extension of the US$10.7 million venture.
The project began in October 2013 under the former PPP/C administration and is due to end in October 2016. It is being funded by money earned under Guyana’s forest protection partnership with Norway and is being overseen by the United Nations Development Programme.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources yesterday, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock acknowledged that the project is behind in achieving its goals and disclosed that the Ministry has requested an extension of the project. “The ministry anticipates successful consideration of its request for extension of the ALT and the completion of all deliverables within the extended time,” he said.
Head of the project Enrique Monize told the committee that under the ALT, 68 villages and communities were slated for attention. The project seeks to have land titles issued and the demarcation process completed for all Amerindian villages that submit requests, including those that request extensions; increase use of existing and alternative mechanisms to resolve land titling disputes; and produce a communication strategy including a handbook describing the process of titling, demarcation and the social and economic impacts of secure land tenure.
“…it is far from completion with only about a quarter of the estimated 68 villages being demarcated so far. An extension of the project is currently being pursued,” Monize told the committee. He said of the 68 villages slated for attention, 32 consist of villages that were previously demarcated and titled and are now seeking extension while 13 are communities that have been occupying State land and are now seeking titles so as to become established villages.
Absolute grants
“All of these 45 villages will have to receive absolute grants for the lands requested. This will be followed by the demarcation process before each receive certificate of title through the land registry,” he said.
Monize added that of the remaining 23 villages, three are titled villages that received absolute grants prior to the project for extensions and are now slated for demarcation only. The remaining villages have received absolute grants at various times dating back from 1976 to the period just prior to the project. These are all scheduled for demarcation and titling only, he said.
He identified some of the constraints that have hindered the projects. According to Monize, one of the main issues has to do with the encumbrances “which consists of overlapping interests.” He explained that this has arisen out of the land administration process in Guyana where land is administered by agencies such as the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, the Guyana Geology and Mines Com-mission and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).
“State land leases, mining and forestry concessions and designated spaces such as protected areas have all become entangled with their requests for extensions and elevation of communities to the village status. Major difficulties in terms of addressing these issues have prolonged the process and decisions to move forward have been very slow,” Monize said.
The official said that another major encumbrance has been the fact that some villages have not given consent under the Free, Prior and Informed Consent principle to embrace the demarcation process. “The results so far can be seen as achieving measured success in some regards while some missing components that will give us that final thrust and produce the absolute grants and to complete the demarcation process may be missing,” he added.
The official said that 18 villages out of the 68 covered by the project have been demarcated while three are being prepared for demarcation. In order to complete the process for the remainder, there has to be investigations within the villages and so far, 41 out of 45 investigations have been completed, he said. According to Monize, the four outstanding communities will be completed within the coming month.
He also pointed out that nine villages have not given consent for demarcation and these are mainly in the Upper Mazaruni and Pakaraimas areas.
Chairman of the Committee Odinga Lumumba, queried what would happen to the 50 villages that have not been demarcated when the project ends. It was noted that an extension was being sought while Allicock also added that the issue was a worry. He said because of logistics and the need to undertake the FPIC process which takes time in order to have buy-in from the community, there were delays. He also pointed out that there were also “save and except” clauses and the communities are worried and there is continuing discussion with the relevant authorities.
“If a village has requested extension, we have to address the encumbrances also and that has taken some time,” Monize added.
Asked by Committee Member Yvonne Pearson about the hold-up with communities in Region Two, Monize said that applications from seven villages in Region 2 are now at the GFC for their input. He said that although investigations were done, there were variations in the description for land requested by some of those villages. Some of the changes would have seen new lands being included that were not previously considered. “That has been the general trend with most of the investigations,” he said while pointing out that some of the lands include some with overlapping forestry concessions.
Urged by Lumumba to find a solution, Allicock said that the ministry was working with the National Toshaos Council and it is also working towards setting up a Hinterland and Indigenous Peoples Lands and Life Commission.
Meantime, Monize said that the ALT project has also facilitated the training of over 200 persons in mediation through various workshops. He said a grievance committee has been set up and has already commenced meeting with the first draft of the initial meeting being currently circulated. Further, a draft handbook on land titling procedures has been prepared and is currently being reviewed for early publication, he said. The official added that a communication strategy has been prepared and further rollout of that strategy is currently being procured.
