Mapping Miskitu subsistence land use change in Concejo Territorial Katainasta, Honduras

Authors

  • Taylor A. Tappan, Doctorando University of Kansas, United States
  • Peter H. Herlihy, Doctor University of Kansas, United States

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15359/rgac.61-3.33

Keywords:

Honduras, Miskitu, concejo territorial, indigenous, resource use

Abstract

Understanding the large-scale spatial patterns of natural resource use in indigenous homelands is critical for guaranteeing indigenous peoples’ ancestral land rights, designing effective conservation policies, and promoting good governance in Central America. However, few studies have mapped the diachronic distribution of indigenous communities’ resource use in these areas. Here we present a case study describing the spatial functionality of the Concejo Territorial Katainasta (CTK)--the first indigenous territorial jurisdiction in Honduras to receive an intercommunity land title. Two participatory research mapping (PRM) studies--the first in 1992 and the second in 2014-15--mapped the spatial patterns of Miskitu subsistence activities in CTK. The results were subsequently converted into a geographic information system (GIS) that allowed for spatial and temporal comparisons of Miskitu subsistence livelihoods in CTK before and after the titling process. Here we focus on the spatial parameters of three Miskitu subsistence livelihoods: agriculture, hunting and fishing. Analysis of results suggests that 1) the 2014-15 subsistence use areas for Miskitu communities in CTK have not diverged dramatically from those of the 1992 study, and 2) the new legal boundaries of CTK adequately encompass the subsistence use areas of its constituent communities and recognize the historical overlaps in Miskitu resource use and tenure patterns.

Author Biographies

Taylor A. Tappan, Doctorando, University of Kansas

Taylor is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science at the University of
Kansas

Peter H. Herlihy, Doctor, University of Kansas

Dr. Herlihy is a professor of geography in the Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science at the
University of Kansas

References

Álvarez, R., Pantoja, E., Granados, G. & Paz, A. (2017). “Strengthening Indigenous Peoples Land Rights in Honduras: The Miskitu People's Experience of Collective Land Titling, Lessons Learned, and Main Challenges for the Future.” Paper presented at the 2017 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington, D.C.

Cochran, D. M. (2008). Who Will Work the Land? National Integration, Cash Economies, and the Future of Shifting Cultivation in the Honduran Mosquitia. Journal of Latin American Geography, 7(1), 57-84.

Dunn, M. A. & Smith, D. A. (2011). The Spatial Patterns of Miskitu Hunting in Northeastern Honduras: Lessons for Wildlife Management in Tropical Forests. Journal of Latin American Geography, 10(1), 85-108.

Galeana, F. & Pantoja, E. (2013). Strengthening Indigenous Peoples' Land Tenure Governance: The Case of the Miskito People in Honduras. Paper presented at the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington, D.C.

Herlihy, P. H. (2001). Indigenous and Ladino Peoples of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, Honduras. In S. C. Stonich (Ed.), Endangered Peoples of Latin America: Struggles to Survive and Thrive (pp. 100-120). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Herlihy, P. H. & Knapp, G. (2003). Maps of, by, and for the Peoples of Latin America. Human Organization, 62(4), 303-314.

Herlihy, P. H. & Leake, A. P. (1997). Participatory Research Mapping of Indigenous Lands in the Honduran Mosquitia. In A. R. Pebley & L. Rosero-Bixby (Eds.), Demographic Diversity and Change in the Central American Isthmus (pp. 707-736). Santa Monica, CA: Rand Books.

Herlihy, P. H., Tappan, T. A. & Fahrenbruch, M. L. (2018). Recognizing Indigenous Territories in Central America. Paper presented at the 35th Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, San José, Costa Rica.

INA. (2012). Título Definitivo de Propiedad Intercomunitario en Domino Pleno (Concejo Territorial KATAINASTA). In Registration No.2621.

Published

2018-11-26

How to Cite

Tappan, T. A., & Herlihy, P. H. (2018). Mapping Miskitu subsistence land use change in Concejo Territorial Katainasta, Honduras. Geographical Journal of Central America, 3(61E), 609-622. https://doi.org/10.15359/rgac.61-3.33

Issue

Section

Case studies (Peer reviewed)

How to Cite

Tappan, T. A., & Herlihy, P. H. (2018). Mapping Miskitu subsistence land use change in Concejo Territorial Katainasta, Honduras. Geographical Journal of Central America, 3(61E), 609-622. https://doi.org/10.15359/rgac.61-3.33

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