A Diagnostic of Land Tenure in Garifuna and Miskitu Communities in Honduras, CCARC 2003.

This participatory research project was designed in collaboration with the Black and Indigenous organizations on the Honduran Atlantic Coast:  the Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario (ODECO) and the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (both Garifuna led organizations), and  Moskitia Asla Takanka (MASTA), a Miskitu organization.  Community researchers were paired with principal investigators to develop the communal land claims of 16 Garifuna and 15 Miskito communities.  The multi-dimensional study included social diagnostics of local communities, land tenure issues, and ethno-mapping strategies.

Community maps of claims based on traditional use and occupancy were validated by GPS mapping techniques in a process of ethno-mapping to document their claims. The study was used by OFRANEH in precedent setting litigation on Indigenous land rights with the Inter-American Court for Human Rights, and also served as a basis for the titling of multi-communal Miskitu territories in favor of the federations of MASTA.