Titling of Indigenous common-property lands in eastern Nicaragua is a necessary base for forest management. Titling alone will not be sufficient to assure sustainable practices, and the success of demarcation programmes rests on processes of negotiation leading up to tenure decisions. Nevertheless, a review of decades of history in Indigenous territories suggests that key problems in forest resource administration are inextricably linked to tenure insecurities, as explorations of current resource disputes in seven villages demonstrate. Analysis also suggests that ineffective implementation of Nicaragua's multiethnic autonomy fosters illegality and resource mismanagement. Fundamental structural changes to improve inclusion, accountability and transparency are necessary. Remediation also requires inclusive multiscale negotiations of land claims and participatory mapping to resolve tenure disputes.