In 1995 the Government of Guyana, in an attempt to address Amerindian land claims, formulated a policy after

consultation with Amerindian Toshaos (elected leaders) at a meeting held at Paramakatoi, Region 8. A two-phase approach was designed; 1) Demarcation of the existing seventy-four (74) legally recognised (titled) Amerindian communities; and 2) Addressing extensions of titled communities and the request for titles by those communities without legally recognised lands.
Demarcation provides the communities with maps of their lands and physically marked boundaries. This has enabled them to adequately address encroachment issues. In addition, demarcation has aided in identifying the anomalies between the description in the Amerindian Act and the realities on the ground; thereafter the necessary corrections have been made, and this is a continuing process.
In 1996 the demarcation process commenced. However, the process encountered some difficulties as communities started to renege on their decision to demarcate. Several inaccuracies were peddled by political opportunists, resulting in communities agreeing and then later disagreeing. For example, some communities were told that, once demarcated, the government would not address their request for extension of their lands. In some communities, the surveyors arrived without prior notice, resulting in the communities being unprepared to participate in the surveys.
In cases where communities reneged on their decisions to demarcate, there was wastage of scarce financial resources as the surveys had to be aborted. But, more importantly, the process was halted, as government required all titled communities to be demarcated before moving to the next phase.
Prior to the 2012 National Toshaos Council, when His Excellency President Donald Ramotar distributed several more land titles in addition to that recorded, of the seventy-four (74) titled communities, thirty-nine (39) were demarcated, with Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 fully completed.
Recognising that some administrative regions had completed the demarcation exercise, in 2002 the government altered the policy to move to Phase 2. In this way regions that had completed demarcation did not have to wait until other regions were finished in order to begin phase 2. Regions 2 and 10 were the first to move to phase 2. This prompted additional communities to request demarcations.
In 2006, as part of the process for enacting a new Amerindian Act, the government decided to include a comprehensive procedure and criteria to address Amerindian land claims. These are outlined in Part VI of the new Amerindian Act. This decision is seen as progressive since, unlike policy, laws cannot be changed easily.
Unlike many other countries that require indigenous peoples to show their ancestral connections with the particular piece of land being claimed, the Government of Guyana decided that there needed to be less complicated criteria. As such, communities requesting titled lands are only required to show their use and occupation of the land being requested for at least 25 years and, secondly, the population must comprise at least one hundred and fifty (150) persons for the five (5) years preceding the application.
As at July 2007, seventy-one (71) of the ninety-one (91) communities had completed, or are in the process of demarcating  their titled lands, with the state bearing the cost of demarcation. More importantly, Guyana has made significant progress in addressing Amerindian land claims by providing titles to those communities that were previously without titled lands.
Within three years (2004 – 2007) seventeen (17) communities had received titles, while six (6) secured extensions to their titled lands, increasing the total number of communities with legally recognised lands from seventy-four (74) to ninety-one (91), and the percentage of Guyana’s territory owned by Amerindian communities from approximately 6.5% to about 14%. In all of these cases, communities were requested to submit a description of the area requested and in-depth consultations were held before titles were granted.
There remain several communities without legally recognised lands and many of them have already requested titled lands. The government, through the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, continues to actively pursue the process of addressing these claims and the recent handing over of titles to additional Amerindian communities bespeaks government’s keeping faith with Guyana’s first peoples as the administration continues to ensure equity in opportunities of advancement and development in every Guyanese community.