COLLECTIVE ACCESS TO PUBLIC LAND IN URUGUAY

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the development of the policy of access to public lands in the new institutional political context of Uruguay. Characterized by the cut in the funding of the National Institute of Colonization (INC), the disaffection of lands and the halting of a process of expansion of its land portfolio.

Collective Access to Land refers to a central category to understand a modality of access to public land. This has allowed workers and producers to develop collective enterprises in which they share the work, the means of production, decision-making, and the economic results of the venture.

It seeks to know what are the present organizational arrangements, and how they affect the associative territoriality, as well as the material conditions that allow the operation of the enterprises.

The trend towards zero incorporation of land into the INC's portfolio, suggest that the process of adjudication of new land will be slowed down or stopped altogether. Therefore, if there is no allocation policy that prioritizes collective allocation of land over individual, the growth of associative productive units on public land will also stop.

Keywords: access to land, associative territoriality, public policy