The Monkox People of Lomerío, organized in the Central of Indigenous Communities of Lomerío (CICOL), legally own and manage their 256,000-hectare territory in the department of Santa Cruz, in the lowlands of Bolivia.

Since 2016, CICADA members Iokiñe Rodriguez (University of East Anglia, UK) and Mirna Inturias (Universidad NUR, Bolivia), have been working to support the claim for political autonomy of the Monkox People of Lomerío. The main objective of their activities has been to influence both national and local level decision-making related to Monkox claim to territorial autonomy under the understanding that political autonomy is key for a just and sustainable management of indigenous territories. Activities conducted in the last years have made a significant contribution to advancing the autonomy claim of the Monkox.

CICOL, in partnership with Iokiñe Rodriguez and Mirna Inturias, has documented the history of the Monkox People of Lomerío, including their path to autonomy, in the book “The History of Lomerio: On the Road to Freedom” (2020).

Community forestry is at the heart of the Monkox’s strategy for territorial management and recognition. As part of the INDIS project, CICOL is elaborating its life project and developing a local vision for the sustainable use of its resources. Following the 2019 forest fires that devastated Bolivia, the Monkox Nation of Lomerío has initiated a series of activities to ensure good cotrol and management of fire use in the territory, including a participatory research conducted by indigenous researchers in conjunction with NUR University and the University of East Anglia to recover ancestral knowledge about the use of fire. You can read more about the fire use participatory research in the fifth issue of our newsletter.