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A network for all who care about the conservation of our world and who want to see it achieved with justice, compassion, dignity and honesty.

2017 Archives

Inuit seek full management of Tallurutiup Imanga, Canada’s largest protected area.

'This is about communities, we want communities to grow and to thrive,” says the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which wants to oversee the ‘ecological engine’ of the Arctic.

More… Dec 11, 2017

A call to action by Rain Forest UK.

Call to action for a “zero tolerance” policy concerning human rights abuses in conservation programmes.

This is an important campaign for justice but we ask whether all the potential parties to the injustices claimed are represented here. For example the letter fails to mention the French company Rougier or the French Government which ought to be concerned about the behaviour of an important French company whose interests the eco-guards were protecting.

More… Dec 09, 2017

Eco-guards accused of torture and extrajudicial killing in the Republic of Congo.

On 10 November 2017, a man died after being beaten and abused by eco-guards in the Republic of Congo. The 32-year old man, Freddy Ndadé, was arrested with two other men for alleged poaching. They were arrested in the Central African Republic, near the border with the Republic of Congo.

More… Dec 08, 2017

Why ruthless eviction drive in Assam's wildlife sanctuary raises questions about rights of indigenous people.

The state should stop giving away forest land to big business establishments.

More… Nov 30, 2017

Tanzania has scrapped Otterlo Business Corporation’s hunting tourism concession in Loliondo

Tanzania has ended a 25-year-old hunting tourism deal with a United Arab Emirates company called Otterlo Business Corporation. The deal, set up in 1992, was reported to be in exchange for millions of dollars to Tanzania’s armed forces.

More… Nov 21, 2017

Tanzania ends hunting deal with Dubai royal family

*Natural Resources Minister says the Dubai-owned company will never be awarded another hunting licence, and suspended director of wildlife Alexander Songorwa for allegedly creating a syndicate of government officials in the ministry who have been compromised. *More than 2,796 animals and birds were killed in the 2007 and 2009 hunting seasons lasting four months each, with fears among the local people and conservationists that the animals could include endangered species. *The hunting sector contributes 90 per cent of the money used by the Tanzania Wildlife Authority.

More… Nov 15, 2017

Are Conservation Organisations Complicit in Ethnic Discrimination?

Answering this question with an example of blatantly racist and coercive imagery endorsed and propagated by two large players in the conservation world, both internationally and in India.

More… Nov 13, 2017

Guest Post by Survival International:

“If the indigenous people haven’t given their consent, then WWF has no business being there”

For decades, alarm bells have been ringing over the human rights abuses that WWF is contributing to in the Congo Basin. In its attempt to defend itself (14 October), WWF shows that it is still deaf to these concerns, and prepared to mislead the public.

More… Nov 03, 2017

Wildlife Conservation Society partners with loggers in the Republic of Congo.

Indigenous Bayaka dispossessed

More… Oct 30, 2017

Kenya: Conservation and Indigenous peoples’ rights – not a zero sum game.

The preamble of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets out that “…respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of the environment”. Despite this emphatic international human rights standard, and the global leadership and commitment demonstrated by Indigenous Peoples throughout the world, some Indigenous communities in some parts of world continue to have their rights denied in the name of conservation.

More… Oct 25, 2017

WWF responds to Survival International’s criticisms:

“Protecting our planet is as much about respecting the rights of the people that depend on it as it is about protecting wildlife”

Recently, Survival International published a report titled, “How will we Survive?” It documents in detail the impact on indigenous communities of the national parks, logging concessions and trophy hunting zones that have been imposed on vast areas of land in the Congo Basin. The report is critical of the roles of the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society have played in conservation in the Congo.

More… Oct 13, 2017

“Pygmy” man pleads with Bronx Zoo organization after son is killed for conservation.

A Batwa “Pygmy” man has issued a desperate plea to the organization which runs New York’s Bronx zoo, after his 17-year-old son was shot dead by a park guard.

More… Oct 12, 2017

How will we survive?

Survival International accuses WWF and WCS of supporting violence against indigenous people in the Congo Basin

National parks, logging concessions and trophy hunting zones have been imposed on vast areas of land in the Congo Basin. A new report by Survival International documents how the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society have played a key role in this carve up of indigenous peoples’ lands.

More… Oct 12, 2017

Concern over plan to rehabilitate tribal families displaced from Nagarahole.

Activists fear project may remain only on paper as there is no clarity on availability of land.

More… Oct 05, 2017

Inuit will write marine management plan for eastern end of Northwest Passage.

The Inuit of Labrador and the federal government have signed a deal that will see the Inuit use their traditional knowledge to develop a marine-management plan covering more than 380,000 square kilometres of coastal waters on the far eastern end of the Northwest Passage.

More… Oct 02, 2017

What works?

Protected areas, indigenous territories, and conservation concessions in Peru.

“State-controlled protected areas (PAs) have dominated conservation strategies globally, yet their performance relative to other governance regimes is rarely assessed comprehensively. Furthermore, performance indicators of forest PAs are typically restricted to deforestation, although the extent of forest degradation is greater.”

More… Sep 27, 2017

A young Batwa boy has been killed in a national park while trying to access traditional medicine.

On Saturday 26 August, the boy and his father were shot at by eco-guards. The father was badly wounded but escaped but his son was killed.

More… Sep 15, 2017

The shady past of Parks Canada:

Forced out, Indigenous people are forging a comeback.

Among Indigenous leaders, there is more talk of a day when their people will return to the parks — not to amuse tourists, but to live and work.

More… Sep 08, 2017

WWF Violating Indigenous Rights – Complaint Abandoned

Stephen Corry of SI explains how the process unwound.

Survival International has today abandoned trying to get a resolution to our formal complaint that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is violating international standards about corporate responsibility, and is reverting to using public pressure to try and stop the abuses.

More… Sep 05, 2017

As India celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi, conflict rages with elephants.

A deadly conflict is underway in India as forests and grasslands are constantly shrinking which has forced animals to fight for space with human population.

More… Aug 25, 2017

Protests in Bolivia Against Renewed Road Plans for TIPNIS Rainforest.

Community leaders and environmentalists rally to protect Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory, cause of massive 2011 protests.

More… Aug 15, 2017

Illegal Arson Attack in Loliondo.

Rangers Say that They Have Started an Operation to Evict the Maasai from the 1,500 km2 Osero

More… Aug 14, 2017

Elephant and tiger attacks highlight India's wildlife conflict.

Members of the Paharia tribe living in the upper hill regions of India's Jharkhand state have been spending sleepless nights.

More… Aug 12, 2017

Brazil’s Temer threatens constitutional indigenous land rights.

President Temer, influenced by the rural lobby in congress whose votes he needs to not be tried by the Supreme Court on corruption charges, has okayed new criteria meant to delegitimize indigenous land boundary claims, legal experts say.- One rule rejects any indigenous demarcation of land where Indians were not physically present on a traditional territory in 1988, which would disqualify many legitimate claims. - Another allows government to undertake “strategic” public works, such as dams and roads, without indigenous consent, violating the International Labor Organization’s 169 Convention, signed by Brazil.- The administration also introduced a bill likely to be passed by congress that reclassifies 349,000 hectares (1,347 square miles) of Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon, gutting protections, allowing economic activities — logging, ranching, farming and mining — and legitimizing land grabs there.

More… Aug 02, 2017

People and wildlife now threatened by rapid destruction of central America's forests.

A new study by WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) in Central America has found that cattle ranching and other anthropogenic activities represent a major threat to the region's remaining rainforests.

More… Jul 29, 2017

Squatters battle Kenya's ex-president and charities over wildlife park

"Here are people with no alternative places to live, people who are born there... They have nowhere else to go"

More… Jul 22, 2017

Book review: The Big Conservation Lie.

“Hero worship in conservation is as old as wildlife conservation itself. The subjects of this worship are invariably white men and women who are lionized for taking to a life of selfless service of the wilderness and its residents.”

More… Jul 13, 2017

Of human-wildlife interactions.

Human-wildlife conflict management still remains a grey area for conservation practitioners.

More… Jul 07, 2017

Revealed: Bronx Zoo organization funds serious human rights abuses.

Vast swathes of the Bayaka's ancestral homelands in the Republic of Congo have been taken over without their consent by loggers and big conservation NGOs.

More… Jun 29, 2017

Taiwan aborigines can now legally hunt for food.

Taiwan's indigenous people finally granted the legal right to hunt wild game for food and tradition.

More… Jun 11, 2017

Criminalising Forest-Dwellers Has Not Helped India’s Forests or Wildlife.

It’s Time for a New Deal.

Instead of evicting forest-dwelling communities for engaging in traditional activities in protected areas and reserved forests, the government should use them for co-management.

More… May 31, 2017

An Inquiry into the Status of Implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

World over, the territories of indigenous people overlap with the rich bio-diverse areas. Their identity, traditional practices, customary laws, and livelihood are tightly inter-linked to their land and natural resources. Protection and management of natural resources ensure their survival, physically as well as culturally. These forest and nature-dependent communities are increasingly coming in conflict with their respective governments and powerful corporations due to the rise in urbanization, changing economic factors, and push for mega projects across the globe, thereby making it more difficult for them to secure their basic rights and access to land and natural resources. Similar to the global trend, the rights of tribal and other forestdwelling communities in India, who constitute eight per cent (2011 Census) of the country’s population, are also being expropriated leaving them further marginalized.

More… May 28, 2017

Legal victory for Kenya hunter-gatherers

Hunter-gatherers in Kenya have won an eight-year court battle against the government's plan to evict them from their ancestral land in the Mau Forest.

More… May 28, 2017

Code of conduct needed for ocean conservation, study says.

A diverse group of the world's leading experts in marine conservation is calling for a Hippocratic Oath for ocean conservation ? Not unlike the pledge physicians take to uphold specific ethical standards when practicing medicine.

More… May 19, 2017

WWF and the Loggers.

A brief history of greenwashing in the Congo basin. A Survival Int. report.

"None of WWF’s partners that feature here has received or even sought the consent of the tribal peoples whose forests it is destroying. WWF should not enter any relationship with a company that fails to obey the law or respect tribal rights, something that it recognized when it drew up its policy on human rights. Yet WWF has violated this policy time and again."

More… May 14, 2017

Why Russia’s Indigenous People Are Wary of National Parks.

Russia’s northern Indigenous people have reason to view their national parks system with suspicion. Park boundaries are sometimes rolled back to make way for resource development, while protected areas often pose an impediment to traditional hunting and fishing activities.

More… May 14, 2017

Don’t confer forest rights to tribals in critical tiger habitats: NTCA.

National Tiger Conservation Authority’s decision on tribals and forest dwellers draws criticism from CPM leader Brinda Karat.

India’s nodal tiger authority has asked tiger range states not to confer forest rights to any tribal or forest dwelling communities in critical tiger habitats.

More… Apr 19, 2017

The Necessary Alliance between Conservationists and Rights Advocates.

Degradation of biodiversity is a double injustice that destroys ecosystems and impoverishes indigenous peoples.

More… Apr 18, 2017

To conserve tropical forests and wildlife, protect the rights of people who rely on them.

Many of our planet’s most beautiful areas are also sites of intense conflicts. In a recent example, traditional herdsmen in February took over the land around Mount Kenya, which is a World Heritage Site and biodiversity hotspot, burning down the tourist lodge and bringing in thousands of cattle to graze.

More… Apr 08, 2017

Conservation violence:

More evictions of the Sengwer in the Embobut Forest, Kenya.

On 2 April 2017, Kenya Forest Service guards violently attacked Elias Kimaiyo, a Sengwer community leader. The Forest Guards were burning houses belonging to the Sengwer. Kimaiyo was taking photographs.

More… Apr 08, 2017

Respecting human rights: the key to elephant conservation

"It’s time for a new model of conservation: one that holds human rights at its core."

More… Apr 04, 2017

As drought sweeps Kenya, herders invade farms and old wounds are reopened.

Threatened by famine, pastoralists have turned to violence.

More… Mar 22, 2017

India’s Kaziranga national park and the Streisand effect.

Chris Lang from Conservation Watch reviews the debate surrounding Kaziranga's shoot on sight policy.

The controversy over Kaziranga National Park’s brutal anti-poaching policy continues. Over the past 20 years, 106 people have been killed in the park in north-east India. Shockingly, almost half of those people were killed in the past five years.

More… Mar 11, 2017

First Nations call for more say in park system at national conference

'Indigenous protected areas reach their full potential when there are people in them, taking care of them'

Giving Indigenous people a greater say in the operation of national parks and the creation of new protected areas is on the agenda at a major conference in Alberta this week. First Nations leaders and officials from the federal and provincial governments will review proposals that could give more legal weight to protected areas designated by bands, said Steve Nitah, a delegate to the Canadian Parks Conference being held over four days starting Wednesday in Banff.

More… Mar 08, 2017

India’s militant rhino protectors are challenging traditional views of how conservation works.

In Kaziranga, a national park in north-eastern India, rangers shoot people to protect rhinos.

More… Feb 12, 2017

View from the Termite Mound.

Susanna Nordlund's blog about threats against Maasai land in Loliondo - Thomson Safaris, OBC and ruthless hypocrisy.

Minister Maghembe Declares War on the Maasai of Loliondo - The dry season became catastrophic. There were more meetings by the RC’s committee. Herders were shot by Senapa rangers. The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism made a declaration that the land had to be taken - flanked by OBC’s journalists. The councillors protested the minister’s declaration. The situation is terrifying.

More… Jan 30, 2017

Leaked WWF report on the Baka in Cameroon.

“Many cases of abuse and human rights violations are reported by the communities”

Earlier this week, Survival International announced that it has received a leaked copy of a 2015 WWF report into the impact of its conservation activities in Cameroon on the Baka indigenous peoples. WWF had previously denied the existence of the report.

More… Jan 26, 2017

Amazon Indigenous REDD+: an innovative approach to conserve Colombian forests?

An authority that represents indigenous organizations of the nine Amazonian countries proposes a conservation initiative in which cultural traditions and ancestral knowledge form the basis for development.

The Amazon Indigenous REDD+ (RIA) initiative led in Colombia by the indigenous organization OPIAC is being implemented in the departments of Amazonas and Guainia, territories made up of 169 indigenous reservations of 56 different villages, not counting the populations that are in voluntary isolation. In 2012, the reservation of the Upper Basin of the Inírida River (CMARI), inside the Puinawai Nature Reserve, was chosen as the location of the first pilot implementation project of RIA in Colombia, which had its official presentation at COP18, the 18th meeting of the UN Climate Change Conference. For indigenous communities in the Amazon, it is important that their ancestral traditions are recognized as the basis for the implementation of RIA and used as a mechanism to safeguard Amazonian biodiversity.

More… Jan 06, 2017

Human rights abuses complaint against WWF to be investigated by OECD.

In unprecedented move, OECD will look into allegations that world’s largest conservation organisation facilitated abuse of Baka people of Cameroon.

More… Jan 05, 2017