Political Ecology of Participation in the Yungas Biosphere Reserve

This book addresses indigenous participation in the governance of the Yungas Biosphere Reserve (YBR, North-West Argentina), through a political ecology perspective. In a region characterized by a traditional power elite structure, participatory governance in nature conservation brought much hope for indigenous communities. It came along with a wave of legal evolution in favour of their rights and the political awakening of the Kolla people in the region. Feeling they had neither been appropriately consulted in the creation of the Biosphere Reserve nor given a fair space in the decision-making instances, the Kollas rejected the participatory process. By questioning and rejecting the participatory process, they gained a de facto right of veto over the governance of the Reserve, their actions of protest being considered the main reason for the paralysis of the RBY. This created a rupture in the domination pattern established by post-colonial institutions. Following the resistance theory, these events demonstrate that even a flawed participatory process allows some space for traditionally marginalized actors willing to induce social changes.