CICADA is partnering with the Congreso General de la Comarca Ngäbé-Buglé, the political governing body of Panama’s largest indigenous group, the Ngäbé and Buglé, to study the territorial and governance challenges that they face on their Comarca Ngäbé-Buglé territory, and to put forth proposals for mitigating the effects of mining and hydroelectric projects.

In 2010, the government of Panamá enforced an electoral reform, whereby the government can elect chiefs for the Ngäbé and Buglé, without the input of the Ngäbé and Buglé peoples. The Ngäbé-Buglé region has one of the largest deposits of copper in the world called Cerro Colorado.

In light of the human rights violations the Ngäbé Buglé inhabitants faced during protests, they brought their complaints to the UN, who sent James Anaya, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in July 2013.

Anaya’s Proposals for Self-Governance

Anaya suggested many proposals:

Since then, the Ngäbé and Buglé nations have attempted to implement these proposals through communication, books, radio, artisanal associations, and joint efforts of investigators and the community.

Academic Partnership and Territorial Defense

CICADA co-investigator Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert has been working with the Ngäbé and Buglé nations of central and western Panama, which have been on the frontlines of conflicts over territorial sovereignty and natural resource development.

Immediately to the east of the Comarca is the Distrito de Urracá. Without formal indigenous title, communities face challenges of mining, conservation, and land titling by outsiders.

A team of Buglé and Ngäbé representatives and McGill researchers are producing a thematic atlas of Urracá, which will be used as a tool for education and decision-making. Follow-up projects in videography and history are planned.