Networks of life in the era of climate change: untangling the Indigenous peoples' mobility in the largest wetland of the Amazon

Abstract

Moxeño-Trinitario and Yuracaré Indigenous communities in the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivia are facing depopulation and the many different challenges that come with it. Despite past community efforts to keep or increase the number of families living permanently in their territories, communities' population has decreased since the 1990's, and especially since the largest flood of the 21st century hit the area, in 2014. Throughout history, Moxeño-Trinitario and Yuracaré families have moved across vast spaces in the Bolivian lowlands, responding to changes in the environment, inter-ethnic tensions, and the multiples pressures of colonization. More recently, Indigenous community members have migrated to various parts of the country and to other countries looking for education, medical care, employment and better wages to support the increasing cost of living in their communities. This has led to low population levels in certain communities, and the identification of depopulation as a key problem to address by community members and Indigenous authorities. In this thesis I present a research project carried out in collaboration with the Organization of Riverine Indigenous Communities of the Mamoré River (Subcentral de Comunidades Indígenas Ribereñas Río Mamoré SCIRRM) and the Llanos de Moxos Working Group (GTLM per its acronym in Spanish) to investigate the patterns of mobility of Indigenous families, and the drivers and challenges associated to this phenomenon. Drawing on a qualitative approach that combined interviews, a workshop, observation and document analysis, the project examined the characteristics of Indigenous families' mobility, its driver and effects. The main findings shed light on the complex relationships between the forces that drive people to migrate and the challenges this poses to reproduce their life systems. The identified reasons for people leaving their communities include lack of basic services such as education and health care, lack of income sources and employment opportunities, and climate change effects – especially floods. The effects are wide-ranging: from schools being closed (because they do not reach the minimum number of children) – driving further migration; to loss of cultural practices and knowledge. Depopulation and mobility patterns also pose challenges to natural resource management and conservation. This research contributes to the scholarly field of human mobility by providing a case study that explores human movement patterns and the interconnectedness of driving forces and effects.