Samburu video testimonial 1. Nakuru Lemiruni sends a message to AWF
Nakuru talks to Jo Woodman about her eviction from her home to make way for conservation. Video editing by Zoe Young.
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Parks, Poverty, FPIC
The Samburu of Kisargei, in Kenya’s Laikipia district, were brutally evicted from the lands they call home after it was sold to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). AWF – with funds from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and a private donor – says it bought the land on the understanding that no-one lived there. When the Samburu protested and took the matter to the courts the land was hurriedly ‘gifted’ to the government. Nakuru Lemiruni's six children were all born in Kisargei and she says she 'cannot think of any other land as home'. She wanted to send a message to AWF. This is it.
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May 21, 2013
A personal perspective on the events in Loliondo from Susanna Nordlund's blog
'Delayed Updates about the Attackers on Land Rights in Loliondo – Thomson Safaris, OBC and, the Government of Tanzania'
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Parks, Poverty
Thomson Safaris step up their propaganda while continuing the occupation of Maasai grazing land at their self-styled 'Enashiva Nature Reserve' – and their land grab PR person since 2007 appears as a graduate student in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy.
The Government through Tanzania National Parks Authorities and later the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism renews and intensifies the threat of grabbing a 1,500sq km “wildlife corridor”. And on 26th March 2013 the Government declares total war on the people of Loliondo.
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May 19, 2013
Chagossians suffer blow in fight to go home as court rejects WikiLeak cable
US embassy cables allegedly detailing UK plan to stop return to Indian Ocean islands used by US military is ruled inadmissible
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Parks, Indigenous people
Classified American embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks cannot be used as evidence in English and Welsh courts because they breach diplomatic privilege, judges have ruled.
The decision by Lord Justice Richards and Mr Justice Mitting in the high court will have far-reaching consequences and is a severe setback for the use of material obtained from leaks or whistleblowers.
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Apr 19, 2013
Lekiji: a Village in a Wildlife Corridor
Conservation and Corruption - A deadly combination in Lekiji, Laikipia.
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Poverty
Lekiji village of central Kenya exists in a wildlife corridor between two private ranches. Lekiji village was established in the early 1960's for the workers on a white man's farm when the farmer left after Kenya's independence. The village existed peacefully until 1996 when the first court judgement to evict the village came, but the 1050 villagers have managed to stay. Eviction attempts have resulted in two villagers deaths. A ruling as of March 28th gives the villagers 45 days to leave the land.
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Mar 30, 2013
The Tanzanian Government Insists on Grabbing Maasai Land in Loliondo
The latest update on the Maasai's fight to retain their land rights in Ngorongoro District. As well as reports of subsequent developments - updates: 26th, 27th, 30th March, 4th, 8th,14th,15th, 18th April.
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Parks, Poverty
The Tanzanian government, through the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, is moving forward with a plan of taking 1,500 square kilometres which are essential dry season grazing land for the Maasai of Loliondo in Ngorongoro District.
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Mar 24, 2013
Conservation and dispossession in Bogotá
The deployment of conservation zones in Bogotá's 'green' neighbourhoods, is fast becoming an alibi for the dispossession of the city's most vulnerable residents.
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Poverty
The establishment of urban conservation areas in Bogotá increasingly constitute de facto privatised spaces for the city's wealthy residents. As ‘green’ areas in the city become more attractive to the upper and middle-classes, local residents are stigmatised as threats to environmental security, and subsequently evicted leaving their land for more profitable, ‘environmentally-friendly’ uses. Thus, it is precisely in the name of the environment that a deeply fractured urban landscape of exclusion, segregation and dispossession has been legitimated and reinforced in the city.
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Mar 15, 2013
Contestation and Citizen-Led Negotiation Around the Establishment of Protected Areas in Nepal
This paper recounts and describes the resistance movement around GCA, particularly against the government and NTNC’s unilateral approach to declare and manage it.
Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Parks, Poverty
“An understanding of the emerging contestation and negotiation around PA management can inform the wider conservation policy process in general and the PA management in particular. What are the new forms of resistance against the newly established PAs? How can we understand and characterise such resistance campaigns? How have different actors responded to such contestation and negotiation? What can we learn from confrontation and contestation against PA expansion?”
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Mar 08, 2013
Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent - FPIC
These guidelines, designed to be applied by UN-REDD Programme partner countries, “require States to recognize and carry out their duties and obligations to give effect to the requirement of FPIC as applicable to indigenous peoples”.
Themes: Human rights, Indigenous people, FPIC, REDD, UNDRIP, Policy, CBD
These guidelines are only applicable to countries that are UN-REDD participants which diminishes the potential impact and reach of the guidelines. In addition, by focussing on indigenous and forest dependent communities, many other communities in need of such protection are beyond the reach of these guidelines. With these limitations the UN continues down the road of developing a web of overlapping guidelines. Why does the UN continue to build such a morass of programme based guidelines rather than moving towards moving towards a universal right to FPIC for all communities with demonstrable rights to land or the resources on it? – JC.
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Mar 04, 2013
