On August 29-30, the Center for Autonomous Territorial Planning (CPTA) conducted training on use of mobile devices for socio-environmental monitoring for representatives from the Multi-ethnic Indigenous Territory (TIM 1) and the Mojeño Ignaciano Indigenous Territory (TIMI) in the Beni. With this training, community members can collect, process, systematize and use information “to make timely decisions regarding…extractive and development activities of great impact that are carried out” and expected to expand further. These tools will help communities “respond to the current context in which indigenous peoples find themselves in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the governance of their natural resources in the face of climate change, the exercise of their territorial rights through indigenous autonomy and territorial management and the defense of their rights in the face of high-impact activities that the State intends to develop in their territories.”
“The use of mobile phones, have helped” mobilize “organizations and” efforts “to defend the territories before the threats of fires, chaqueos, extractivism and the advance of illegal activities.”
“The indigeneous leader, Alex Villca, communication secretary of the Commonwealth of Indigenous Communities of the Beni Tuichi and Quiquibey Rivers, which represents 17 indigenous communities, including Tacanas, Tsimanes, Mosetenes”,…cautioned that there are “clear limitations in access to internet services” and that “indigenous sectors furthest from the cities” are most isolated digitally.
He further stated that "Technology must be an instrument that goes hand in hand with the actions we carry out as defenders of the environment. It is not taking many for indigenous peoples to adapt to these accelerated changes throughout the world, but little by little we are achieving …we must never get rid of our ancestral knowledge, but help ourselves with this technology to defend our rights.”
You can read the entire Spanish-language article here.