A/HRC/11/11 page 10 has not genuinely strengthened property rights, and that, in many cases, the surface area recognized as belonging to indigenous peoples is insufficient or does not correspond to their traditional territories. 32. With regard to the eastern lowlands, the Special Rapporteur received numerous reports and documentation concerning irregularities in the land distribution process and the illegal appropriation of indigenous lands by farm operators - usually with the connivance of local authorities - through speculative practices in the illicit real estate market and through illegal logging. For example, the Ministry of Rural Development, Farming and the Environment has amply documented the illegal appropriation, by an influential landowner in the region, of 27,000 hectares of land belonging to the Forest Reserve and the Guarayos TCO in the department of Santa Cruz. 33. Another threat to indigenous holdings in the lowlands, particularly in the area of Santa Cruz, is the pressure created by the encroachment on TCOs of indigenous settlers and peasants from other parts of the country. Legal uncertainty surrounding the system of land tenure and the illegal appropriation of land by farm operators, together with the unsatisfied demands of the indigenous communities and of the landless peasant communities, make for highly conflictual situations. D. Exploitation of natural resources and its impact on indigenous peoples 34. Bolivia is a country rich in natural resources, including metals in the Andean region and hydrocarbons in the eastern lowlands, the exploitation of which has had a negative impact on the indigenous territories and societies. In the past few decades, inadequate socio-environmental regulation and lack of oversight of corporate activities, together with the absence of mechanisms to regulate consultation with the indigenous communities affected by such activities, have created severe environmental crises in the country’s indigenous territories. 35. The Special Rapporteur received numerous complaints concerning environmental pollution of soils and waters traditionally used by the region’s indigenous communities as a result of mining concessions awarded in the departments of Oruro and Potosí. Many of these involve mining companies (sometimes using open-pit methods) that extract heavy metals such as gold, silver, lead and zinc by means of high-pollution processes. Environmental deterioration translates into a loss of land for cultivation, the contamination of underground aquifers, rivers and lakes, and the death of livestock and forest fauna. There have been many complaints about the failure of these mining operations to comply with environmental licensing conditions and about the absence of any compensation for damage. 36. In the Andean region, one of the most emblematic cases is the pollution of the Desaguadero river basin and of the Uru Uru and Poopó lakes in the department of Oruro, which is part of the Suyu Suras territory, the traditional homeland of the Jach’a Carangas, Sura, Quillaxas and Asanakes communities of the Quechua and Aymara peoples and the Uru, a native people who have traditionally derived their livelihood from fishing and hunting and currently find themselves in a highly vulnerable situation. High levels of pollution have been documented in the lake area resulting from the discharge of wastewater from active mines in the surrounding region.