The Gran Chaco Americano, which is a biome belonging to the countries of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, is one of the most important and richest geographical areas in South America. Given the developmental trends that promote the extraction of raw materials requiring increasingly wider areas, it is expected an increase in the violation levels of indigenous people rights.
This picture of inequality and vulnerability will worsen further due to the impact of climate change in the Gran Chaco. In this territory, climate change has a direct impact on the feeding of communities, which suffer from a degradation of their lives. To this it is also added their economic exclusion, by their historical roots, they are often identified due to the lack of opportunities.
Currently, the poorest rural areas in the Chaco are the most vulnerable to water shortage during the dry season and lack of infrastructure, expertise and funds to make harvesting and storage and an efficient water use.
These shortcomings enable the generation of emergency situations and homeless families care. Given this scenario, the Chaco Sustentable Program, which is going to be implemented in the tri-national Argentine, Paraguayan and Bolivian Chaco by the Centro de Estudios Desarrollo Regionales (Center for Regional Development Studies) of Tarija - CERDET, as a strategic partner in collaboration with the Junta de Misiones (Mission Board) - JUM, and TIERRAVIVA, proposes to protect the processes for economic empowerment of the indigenous people so they gain a qualitative improvement of their livelihoods.
This will be done in accordance with local, national, regional and global priorities and needs; basing on the construction of a supportive context and environmental responsibility towards food production and commodities without increasing environmental and primarily degradation, through effective implementation of goals and commitments on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and seeking to create conditions for economic inclusion. It will be essential to solve the problem of feeding vulnerable communities, so they are more adapted to the current climate conditions.
The program will also seek political empowerment of indigenous organizations, to ensure the exercise of basic civil rights such as democracy to consolidate sustainable livelihoods framework. The program will contribute to enhancing the enjoyment of their rights, making as an essential the economic empowerment to strengthen the food, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights (ESC rights + A) related to indigenous people in the three South American countries.
Prioritizing the economic empowerment will involve a gradual progress towards overcoming the systematic violation of these rights. In this line of reasoning, the components of the Chaco Sustentable Program are:
- Economic Empowerment
- Democracy
- Citizenship and Climate Change Adaptation
These three axes form a comprehensive approach to the challenge of development of the Gran Chaco indigenous people by the strengthening or the creation of livelihoods. A transverse line of work in setting up a platform for advocacy accompanies these components. It is aimed at positioning the subject matter among institutions in the Gran Chaco.