The "territorial historicity" related to the Tsimane' people living in the Boliv- ian lowlands is a complex process involving many governmental and non- governmental actors. The initiative of evangelist missionary organisations at the beginning of the 1990s led to the formal recognition of two Tsimane' territories. While one territory was given a double status - Biosphere Reserve and indigenous territory - the other territory was put directly under the management of indigenous people. Elucidating the historical background of the process that led to the recognition and institutionalisation of the indig- enous territories enables us to understand that the constitution of an indig- enous political organisation remains a voluntary process justified above all by territorial strategies that have been mainly supported by foreign non- governmental organisations (NGOs). Thus, indigenous political leaders are currently struggling to take part in a more formal mechanism of territorial governance emerging from municipalities, governmental forestry services and forestry companies. Faced with the difficulty of reconciling the objec- tives related to conservation, development and democratisation, the differ- ent actors are using ethnic considerations to legitimise their positions. This leads to what we describe as "institutional segmentation", a phenomenon that makes it difficult to set up a form of territorial planning capable of tak- ing into account the diversity of socio-ecological needs. We argue that the role of municipalities should be strengthened in order to better coordinate territorial management, following the diverse socio-ecological logics that exist in the area. This is one of the most relevant stakes of the new Bolivian constitution's concept of "indigenous autonomy".