Resumen

MAYORGA MUNOZ, CECILIA JANETTE  y  TREGGIARI, FERDINANDO. Commons and social organization: the current experience of the Mapuche communities in Chile. Rev. Derecho [online]. 2019, n.51, pp.73-89.  Epub 14-Mar-2020. ISSN 0121-8697.  https://doi.org/10.14482/dere.51.333.2.

The indigenous communities of the countries at the South of the world are a repository of traditional knowledge as well as community experiences, but are destined to lose originality and consistency if they are not adequately protected. Traditional knowledge is condemned in the economy of the globalized world due to the abusive exploitation carried out by the large western companies; and community experiences are also at risk due to the progressive marginality of the ancestral cultural practices.

The category of the collective human right could offer the legal instrument to guarantee adequate protection of these cultural products of biodiversity and to consolidate their status as assets of collective belonging.

Emblematic from this point of view is the case study offered by the social organizations of the Mapuche communities of Chile, and that also demonstrate the fundamental role of women in the social organization of the community. The study of the biographical approach was carried out through interviews with Mapuche women and men who exercise traditional roles and participate in social organizations. The analysis of the information allowed us to conclude that natural resources are for the Mapuche communities a commons of collective responsibility. Mapuche communities maintain traditional ancestral organization and authorities, therefore they have consetudinary rules, which must be recognized and legitimized, safeguarding traditional knowledge, protected in international treaties such as Nagoya and norms such as Convention 169. Therefore the decisions in matters that affect them must be mediated by consultation processes that consider the different instances of organization present in the community.

Palabras clave : Customary law; commons; Mapuche social organization; traditional knowledges; biodiversity.

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