Indigenous Communities in Bolivia’s Amazon Face Contested Carbon-Credit Contracts

In June 2024 Bolivia’s constitutional court struck down a ban on a funding mechanism linked to carbon markets. The ban had stemmed from a 2010 law that prohibited the “commodification of nature.” The Multi-ethnic Indigenous Territory II (TIM II) – a collective title covering about 440,000 hectares (?1 million acres) and held by the Cavineña, Tacana and Ese Ejja peoples since 2001 – became the focus of new carbon-credit agreements.

The Guardian

On March 12, 2024, a handful of Indigenous leaders in Pando signed a 30-year contract with the Federico Hecker Foundation, granting the foundation control over carbon-credit audits and sales across TIM II. TIM II president Lucio Ayala said the foundation promised “a lot of money” without explaining the arrangement. Julio Mayo of the Cabineña nation later said, “We heard about this [carbon] business and nobody understood what it was.” The Ese Ejja signed a similar agreement in September 2024, but members later complained that promised benefits were absent from the contract. By March 2025 the TIM II board and the Ese Ejja nation formally rejected the agreement, alleging they had been “surprised, pressured and manipulated.”

The Guardian

Aimé Hecker Urresti, elected to the national parliament in 2025, serves as chairman of the Hecker foundation and co-authored a 2025 bill to regulate Bolivia’s carbon market. The bill, revised after criticism, sets general, transparent rules but provides no veto power for Indigenous authorities. Supreme Decree 5264 (issued in October 2024) centralises market control in the national government and omits binding consent, carbon-ownership or benefit-sharing provisions for Indigenous lands.

The Guardian

At the National Forum on Land, Territory and Environment in Santa Cruz (October 2025), Indigenous organisations issued a joint statement rejecting carbon bonds as “commodification of nature.” Lawyer Miguel Vargas warned, “It cannot be that a lawmaker is now promoting a law that will regulate an initiative in which his own family is involved.” The foundation denies any bribery, asserting its proposal included community development beyond credit generation and that contracts assigned outreach and monitoring roles to Indigenous councils.

The Guardian

• “We heard about this [carbon] business and nobody understood what it was,” — Julio Mayo

The Guardian

• “They just told us that we were going to receive money, a lot of money, but they didn’t explain what it was about.” — Lucio Ayala, TIM II’s president

The Guardian

• “They spoke nicely about the project, the benefits, but it wasn’t in the contract.” — Julio Mayo

The Guardian

• “It cannot be that a lawmaker is now promoting a law that will regulate an initiative in which his own family is involved,” — Miguel Vargas

The Guardian