The 1996 Indigenous March in Bolivia was a milestone in the demand for the recognition and titling of indigenous territories. One of the spaces claimed in this process was Ñembi Guasu – a Guaraní name meaning “great refuge” or “great hiding place” – located in the heart of the Bolivian Chaco. With the creation of the Charagua Iyambae Indigenous Autonomy in 2015, a concrete path towards self-management of the territory was opened. In 2019, the Ñembi Guasu was declared an Area of Conservation and Ecological Importance (ACIE), following its inclusion in the Autonomous Statute. This strategic area connects different ecosystems and is home to communities in voluntary isolation. Together with the neighboring national parks, it forms part of a vast protected area of more than seven million hectares, considered a conservation hotspot in South America. However, this process of territorial reappropriation has faced multiple threats: devastating fires – some of them provoked – deforestation, illegal settlements, and the constant pressure of government policies that favor agricultural expansion.
In response to the 2019 fires, the indigenous autonomy enacted the Environmental Pause Law in 2020, an attempt to curb the degradation of ecosystems and restore the balance of the territory. Subsequent judicial inspections have confirmed a series of serious environmental violations and damages. In addition, there are complaints about infrastructure projects that threaten the integrity of the area. The case of Ñembi Guasu represents an emblematic – and perhaps unique – process in the region: the Guaraní people, exercising their autonomy, have taken up the historical demand to protect this reserve as an essential step in the recovery of their ancestral territory. The quest for inviolability not only seeks to protect indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, but also to preserve a confluence of ecosystems of the highest biological and cultural value. Despite the lack of political will and the permissiveness of the state in the face of extractive activities, a path to the future seems to be opening up in Ñembi Guasu. A future guided by resistance, self-determination and hope.
Territory, memory and autonomy
In August 1996, several indigenous nations and peoples staged the Second Indigenous March in Bolivia, demanding land and territory, access to natural resources, development and political participation from the state. The Guaraní people, in particular, demanded the titling of 19 territories totaling more than ten million hectares. Among them was Ñembi Guasu, which means “great refuge” or “great hiding place” in Guaraní. Negotiations between the Guaraní leadership and the national government resulted in the creation of the Kaa-Iya National Park. However, the legal titling of the Ñembi Guasu had not yet been completed. Even so, this territory had already regained a fundamental place in the collective consciousness of the Guaraní people as a great refuge to be protected.
In 2015, a new chapter was opened with the birth of the Original Indigenous Peasant Autonomy (AIOC) in the municipality of Charagua. The Statute of Autonomy declared the Ñembi Guasu an Area of Conservation and Ecological Importance (ACIE), a figure that, beyond the technical, represented an act of symbolic and political reappropriation, within the framework of the great objective of the Guarani nation – and of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in general: territorial reconstitution.
In 2019, the AIOC granted legal protection to the Ñembi Guasu, with an extension of 1,207,850 hectares, through an autonomous law. Thanks to the constitutional recognition of indigenous autonomy, this territory is once again in the hands of the Guarani people. In other words, it came home. Researchers and staunch allies of the indigenous movement, Leonardo Tamburini and Marcelo Siles, identify three fundamental dimensions in the process of reappropriation of the Ñembi Guasu:
1. The historical-cultural dimension, which implies the recovery of the territory as an essential part of the Guaraní identity.
2. The socio-political dimension, expressed in the exercise of autonomy and territorial self-government.
3. The environmental dimension, due to the ecological relevance of the area, with ethnobiological connectivity, since it is a transition zone between the Chiquitano dry forest, the Chaco forest and the Pantanal.
Ñembi Guasu connects the Kaa-Iya and Otuquis National Parks, forming a mega-conservation hotspot of more than seven million contiguous hectares. Its importance transcends borders: it is not only a refuge for biodiversity, but also a symbol of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and hope for a future with a future.
Living reconstitution
What are, in your opinion, the most powerful aspects of this process of territorial reconstitution? What lessons can inspire other peoples in defense of their life and their land?
Life, resistance and threat
The Ñembi Guasu is home to an astonishing biodiversity: species such as the trooper pig, the lonely pig, the flag bear, the giant tatu, the jaguar and the pampas deer find a safe habitat here. But it is not only a refuge for wildlife. It is also a refuge for Ayoreo families who live in voluntary isolation, resisting contact with the national society.
Miguel Ángel Alarcón Bobadilla, of Iniciativa Amotocodie (Paraguay), estimates that more than 100 people from the Totosigobiode community – organized in groups of between 10 and 12 individuals – travel through this area, moving between the Kaa-Iya and Otuquis National Parks. This is a traditional territory of the Ayoreo people since pre-colonial times, historically used by isolated groups. In the face of intensive logging and the total loss of forest cover on the Paraguayan side, the conservation of Ñembi Guasu in Bolivian territory has become even more critical. However, like many protected areas and indigenous territories in Bolivia, Ñembi Guasu faces multiple threats, despite the progressive legal framework that supports it. Land distribution policies have been chaotic, uncoordinated and lacking in strategic planning. What was once envisioned as a process to democratize access to land has turned out to be the opposite: a prebendal, uncoordinated and unconsulted delivery of land to local governments in environmentally sensitive areas.
Norms that have relaxed restrictions on land use – agreed between agribusiness and the government – have contributed to aggravating the problem. In addition, there has been a shift towards a development model based on extractive industries (hydrocarbons and mining), the elimination of guarantees for the right to prior consultation, and the opening of protected areas to these activities. All of this is taking place in a context of increasing deinstitutionalization of the bodies responsible for managing natural resources and protected areas. Far from being contained, deforestation has become a strategic objective.
Between 2015 and 2019, in the jurisdiction of the Charagua Iyambae AIOC alone, 78 settlement decisions have been issued to peasant communities, covering an area of 145,635 hectares. In Ñembi Guasu itself, national public institutions – in a negligent manner and in violation of the autonomy of the AIOC – have recognized rights over more than 10% of the territory, in favor of communities, small and medium-sized properties, and even companies. All of this corresponds to a vision of “development” promoted by the central government, based on the expansion of the agricultural frontier, the establishment of extensive cattle ranches and monocultures, without taking into account ecological criteria or the rights of indigenous autonomies. It is not surprising, therefore, that the AIOC’s declarations of protected areas, as in the case of Ñembi Guasu, are systematically ignored by the central government, which acts according to a logic of exclusive jurisdiction.
The resulting picture is alarming. Of the original three million hectares of forest, only 1.2 million hectares remain. The opening of illegal gaps , induced fires, irregular human settlements, deforestation, timber extraction, smuggling, drug trafficking, and poaching have added to the problem. It is difficult to understand how this can happen in a country that has an abundance of norms that protect indigenous territories, the environment, Mother Earth, water as a human right, and protected areas as a natural heritage. They are all enshrined in the Constitution and in international treaties. Unfortunately, however, they are not fulfilling their purpose. On the contrary, they are often used to justify the unjustifiable. In this context, the efforts of the Charagua Iyambae AIOC to recover their territory – and in particular the Ñembi Guasu – are not only laudable, but fundamental. As Leonardo Tamburini notes: “Ñembi Guasu is unique: because of its double condition of ancestral territory and ecologically important area, it is central to the fulfillment of the great Guaraní goal of territorial reconstitution in an environmental key.”
Baptized in Fire and Righteousness through Autonomy
In December 2019, the Charagua Iyambae AIOC consolidated the boundaries of the Ñembi Guasu as an Area of Conservation and Ecological Importance (ACIE). However, this milestone coincided with an unprecedented environmental tragedy: forest fires ravaged the territory, consuming about 45% of its vegetation cover. Some sources estimate the mortality rate to be between 70 and 90% of the trees in the affected area. Since then, there has been talk of the “baptism of fire of the Ñembi Guasu”, an expression that condenses the pain and resilience in the face of devastation.
The fires and a territorial dispute with a neighboring municipality prompted the Charagua Iyambae AIOC to declare, in 2020, an environmental pause in the fire-affected areas. But this measure was systematically ignored: neither settlers, nor cattle owners, nor even national-level institutions respected the decision, acting illegally within the protected territory.
Faced with this critical situation, the Tetarembiokua Reta Imborika (TRI) – the highest governing body of the Charagua Iyambae AIOC – in the person of Ronal Andrés Caraica, filed a Preventive Environmental Action in 2021 against two key entities: the National Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA) and the Forest and Land Social Control and Inspection Authority (ABT), responsible for authorizing clearings and controlled burns. This lawsuit marked a turning point, as it managed to unite the six autonomous zones – uniting indigenous and other settlers – in defense of their territory.
For Leonardo Tamburini, this legal action is sui generis: “…because the Ñembi Guasu is an indigenous protected area, an indigenous ancestral territory and under the guardianship of an indigenous autonomy…”.
The Agro-Environmental Court accepted the claim and, in September 2021, issued a historic ruling: it ordered an ecological pause in the Ñembi Guasu, prohibiting any activity that could harm the regeneration, restoration of fauna and vegetation cover in the areas affected by the fires. This decision set a precedent, since it was the first time that INRA’s allocations in the distribution of so-called fiscal lands – allocations that violated the territorial rights and constitutional competences of indigenous and municipal autonomies – were limited.
In a desperate attempt to reverse this victory, INRA and the mayor’s office of the municipality of El Carmen del Rivero Tórrez filed an unconstitutionality lawsuit against the consolidation of the Ñembi Guasu, arguing alleged incompetence of the Charagua Iyambae AIOC. The lawsuit was finally rejected, reaffirming the validity of indigenous autonomy and their power to protect their ancestral territory.
Role change
Can we imagine ways to facilitate this necessary role reversal? How can their voices be amplified, their systems recognized, and their ties to the land maintained beyond extractivism?
Ñembi Guasu: territory as a legacy
Alejandro Arambisa, Director of the Area of Conservation and Ecological Importance (ACIE) and part of the technical staff of AIOC Charagua Iyambae responsible for the management of Ñembi Guasu, summarizes the paradigm shift in the territory: “Since the court declared the environmental pause, our park guards have been empowered. We were able to get the different groups to accept the change in roles: it is no longer the ABT or the INRA, but the indigenous autonomy that oversees the management of the reserve. Permits are no longer issued for clearing, slash-and-burn, planting, or opening gaps”.
Since 2023, five park rangers have been carrying out systematic patrols, monitoring the regeneration of the ecosystem and supervising the implementation of the territorial management plan. It has not been easy: in the beginning, the precautionary measures imposed by the agro-environmental judge were violated. Pressure also came from the other side of the border: large cattle ranches in Paraguay see the Ñembi Guasu as a strategic corridor to the Paraguay-Paraná waterway, with access to the Atlantic Ocean. Some municipalities and the regional government are also interested in consolidating a road that would cut through the heart of the ancestral territory. However, these threats – fires and extractivism interests – ended up strengthening cohesion. Several support organizations joined forces to defend the Ñembi Guasu, creating an inter-institutional platform to support the Charagua Iyambae AIOC. It also consolidated an unprecedented alliance: the Ayoreo of Paraguay, the Bolivian Ayoreo organization CANOB, and the AIOC itself recognize each other as guardians of a common territory. The Ñembi Guasu began to occupy a central place in indigenous political discourse as a symbol of resistance and self-determination.
In the words of Alejandro Arambisa: “…in Roboré, the Chiquitano indigenous organizations support our struggle…”. The AIOC is evaluating the creation of a new category of protected area with intangible character, which would guarantee the sovereign decision of the Ayoreo in voluntary isolation not to make contact. Marcelo Siles, a conservationist who has accompanied the process, sums it up clearly: “…without indigenous autonomy, there would be no environmental control and monitoring of the territory by indigenous people”.
In January 2025, a new hearing at the Agro-Environmental Court confirmed the continuity of the ecological pause: new settlements, clearings and slash-and-burns are prohibited; in addition, the previously granted permits were annulled. It also ordered an inspection of the area. Alejandro Arambisa’s assessment is encouraging: “…of the nearly 100 illegal settlements -some with INRA resolutions – most have left the area, and perhaps 10 remain. And of the 40 cattle ranches, many have already begun to accept the management plan established by the AIOC and ACIE…”. When asked why the Guarani are committed to conservation, Alejandro does not hesitate to answer: “We want to leave something for those who come after us…”.
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Messages to the Future
1
The Ñembi Guasu is emblematic because it unites environmental justice with territorial reconstitution. From indigenous autonomy, the very right of the territory to be subject to conservation and regeneration is questioned. Thanks to this confluence – between cosmovision, law and resistance -, firm steps are being taken towards the legitimate reappropriation of the ancestral territory.
2
“We want to leave something for those who come after us,” says Alejandro Arambisa, Director of the Ñembi Guasu Reserve. Conservation and the regeneration of ecosystems are not a fad, but a conviction. For many indigenous peoples, these values are rooted in a worldview in which everything is interconnected. Indigenous autonomy has reversed the roles: now it is the people who manage, protect and decide.
Has the modern world – and its idea of development – understood the profound wisdom of these peoples, once called “primitive”?
3
The enforcement of rights takes time, and it is often threats that open the way to unexpected alliances. The ecological fragility of the Chaco has been a driving force in the legal recognition of the rights of nature, giving rise to regenerative scenarios with enormous transformative potential.
4
Territory and reconstitution are synonymous with identity and future for those who live there.
Do you feel the roots of your identity, where do you locate your sense of belonging, what place do these ties have in your personality and in your search for autonomy? Perhaps the defense of nature begins by asking ourselves who we are, where we come from and what we want to leave behind. Can you think of other aspects that you would like to share with us?
Do you feel the roots of your identity, where do you locate your sense of belonging, what place do these ties have in your personality and in your search for autonomy? Perhaps the defense of nature begins by asking ourselves who we are, where we come from and what we want to leave behind. Can you think of other aspects that you would like to share with us?
The text was elaborated, based on the reading of documentation and interviews and conversations with Leonardo Tamburini of ORE, Organización de Apoyo Legal y Social; Marcelo Siles, biologist and conservationist; and Alejandro Arambisa, director of the Ñembi Guasu conservation and ecological importance area – ACIE, in mid-March 2025 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s eastern capital. The visit, previously coordinated with Leonardo Tamburini, who is thanked for having received and accompanied the visit of the Almanac of the Future, was carried out by Jorge Krekeler (coordinator of the Almanac of the Future and facilitator of Misereor on behalf of Agiamondo). Due to logistical difficulties (fuel crisis in the country) the visit to the territory was cancelled. We thank people for their time and openness to the curiosity of the Almanac of the Future.
Authors:
- Jorge Krekeler | jorge.krekeler@posteo.de
Design:
- Gabriela Avendaño
Photos:
- ORE – Organización de Apoyo Legal y Social
- Andrés Unterladstätter
Contact information regarding the documented experience:
- Ñembi Guasu
Página web: https://nembiguasu.org/
- ORE – Organización de Apoyo Legal y Social
- Facebook: OreBoliviaONG
Edition:
october 2025
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