There are currently 150 million Afro-descendants in Latin America who make up nearly 30% of the region's population (Congressional Research Service, 2005). Of the fifteen Latin American nations that have recently adopted some sort of multicultural reform, only three recognize Afro-Latino communities and give them the same rights as indigenous groups (Hooker, 2005). Indigenous groups are more successful than Afro-descendant groups in obtaining collective rights and development aid from international NGOs. Collective rights are important because they are closely linked to land rights and can become a tool to combat discrimination. I will try to find out the causes of the discrepancy. This study draws heavily on ethnographic research on postcolonial ideas of race in Latin America, and I will seek to connect race and power structures in environmental decision-making through interviews with national decision-makers, NGO representatives, and both black and indigenous communities.1 . Explaining indigenous and Afro-Latino disparities in collective rights. Hooker explores countries with indigenous resistance and capacity to organize and speculates on why Afro-Latinos fail to organize and be recognized by their government. She suggests why formal multicultural recognition is important and what has been achieved for successful groups. It states that Afro-Latinos are much less likely to gain formal recognition since only seven of fifteen Latin American countries implementing multicultural reform grant collective rights to Afro-Latinos and only three give Afro-Latinos the same rights as groups indigenous. Hooker rejected various scholars' theories as to why indigenous people experienced less m...... middle of paper ......ease of the other to discredit land claims and present themselves as better custodians before potential decision makers. Mollet's qualitative methods are similar to those I would like to employ, but I would be working in a different country. I will conduct interviews to gather the views of both Afro-descendant and indigenous groups on how they view environmental management and decision-making. I would also like to ask: 1) If they believe these are more suitable methods for land management. 2) How they view their attitude towards foreign investment and perspectives on inclusion or exploitation. In summary, I will explore views on how race influences environmental decision-making, from a variety of perspectives: international sustainable development groups, national legislatures, and minority groups through interviews with representatives at each level.