SICCAM: Information on Peasant Communities

In order to contribute to the visibility of territorial rights and overcome the lack of systematized social, political and cadastral information of the peasant communities of Peru, the Instituto del Bien Común (IBC) and the Peruvian Center for Social Studies (CEPES) created the Information System on Peasant Communities of Peru (SICCAM) in 2015. This georeferenced database contains information on the recognition and titling of the peasant communities of Peru, in the form of tables (social, economic and political database) and graphs (maps in shapefiles)

This initiative is developed within the framework of the chapter for Responsible Land Governance and the Safe Territories for the Communities of Peru campaign, which is backed by indigenous organizations subscribing to the Pacto de Unidad alliance: CNA, CCP, ONAMIAP, FECONARIMAP and UNCA

Content

SICCAM has systematized and consolidated information on the recognition and titling of peasant communities of Peru, both those denominated originarias (in the coast and Andean zones of Peru) and ribereñas (in the Amazon). Information related to each of the departments of Peru is displayed as tables and maps. The data are organized into three large groups, according to the legal status of the peasant communities: i. recognized and titled peasant communities; ii. recognized communities whose legal titles are pending; and iii. communities pending recognition and titles (exclusively riverine communities located in the Peruvian Amazon). The information is sorted at the departmental, provincial and district level

The data in SICCAM is periodically updated, as information is obtained from public entities (PETT-MINAG, /COFOPRI-MVCS, DISPARC-MINAGRI, BDPI-CULTURA, GORES, SUNARP) and various NGOs working with indigenous populations.

Methodology

Creating the SICCAM database involved the following steps: 1) Collecting information from secondary sources, systematizing and organizing data and mapping information (shapefiles). This task requires SICCAM's technical team to visit various public institutions working on peasant communities' land tenure titles; 2) Comparing different data sources in order to build a digital database with a high degree of reliability; 3) Integrating peasant community data compiled by SICCAM with SICNA data on riverine communities, and finally mapping, by department

SICCAM's progress between 2015 and 2019

As of December 2019, 7,282 peasant communities, from the coastal areas, Andes and the Amazon, are registered on SICCAM. Some 6,303 communities have been formally recognized, of which 5,296 have titles over 24.7 million hectares, or the equivalent of 20% of Peru’s area. The peasant communities are distributed in 23 departments, with Puno, Cusco, Ayacucho, Huancavelica and Apurímac containing the largest number of communities within their administrative political jurisdiction. The combined area of the titled communities and the ones pending a title covers 26.5% of the country

These figures include 1,051 riverine communities, located in the floodplains along the largest rivers in the Peruvian Amazon. Loreto and Ucayali account for 90% of these communities. Only 143 communities are formally recognized as such, of which only 59 were titled as peasant communities or riverine peasant communities

After overcoming significant technical and logistical constraints, as of December 2019, SICCAM has recorded on maps 70% of the lands of the peasant communities. In this way, it exceeds by 40% the most recent public reference mapping base (shapefile) of peasant communities (COFOPRI 2010).

In addition, SICCAM files contain documents backing peasant communities' legal property titles: copies of titles, proof of legal or administrative decisions, maps, descriptive memories and electronic certificates of registration

Dissemination

Through SICCAM, the general public has free access to annual maps of peasant communities, including analyses of pressures and threats that weigh on them (oil, legal and illegal mining, hydroelectric, among others). Digital graphic information is also available through the IBC visualizer. This information feeds, in turn, other platforms such as RAISG, featuring comprehensive socio-environmental information of the Pan-Amazon; and LANDMARK, a global platform that allows the user to visualize indigenous and community land maps around the world

Directory of the Peasant Communities of Peru 2016

The first fruit of SICCAM’s labor has seen the light after overcoming a series of obstacles and limitations in the shape of scattered information. The Directory of the Peasant Communities of Peru 2016 presents in a systematic and summarized manner the available information on peasant communities in the coast, Andes, and Amazon (riverine communities) in the shapes of tables and maps relative to each one of Peru’s departments.

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