Inside how Botswana’s trophy hunting is making the rich richer and the poor poorer

Botswana’s trophy hunting which was supposed to benefit local communities is instead shifting wealth from them to the country’s big businessmen- Sunday Standard investigations have revealed.

Themes: Conservation, Livlihoods, Indigenous people, Hunting

In the latest development, a company owned by business mogul Derek Brink has strong armed an Okavango Delta based community trust to award them an elephant hunting quota at less than a third of the international going rate.

International elephant corridor put at risk by killing of Botswana’s largest tuskers

While hunters celebrate and conservationists mourn the killing of two of Botswana’s largest-tusked elephants, a biodiversity tragedy is waiting in the wings.

Themes: Livlihoods, Indigenous people, Hunting

Comment Ed: These super tusker elephants provide wealth to a privileged few. The right to exploit them is sold by communities for a pittance. Community Based Natural Resource Management was designed to put control back into community hands to ensure economic stability through sound conservation. This is clearly not working. A programme designed to support the poorest now supports the richest.

Tanzania’s Maasai appeal to west to stop eviction for conservation plans

Themes: Agriculture, Conservation, Livlihoods, Indigenous people, Parks, Pastoralists, Poverty, Tourism, Hunting

Thousands of Indigenous people sign letter to UK, US and EU protesting at appropriation of land for tourist safaris and hunting

La Fabriquita: lecciones de una comunidad en Guerrero para proteger el agua y salvar el bosque en México

Themes: Conservation, Poverty, Livlihoods

Hace casi 15 años, los habitantes de una comunidad en el sur de México decidieron conservar el lugar que les proporciona agua: poco más de 500 hectáreas de su territorio las destinaron a la creación de una reserva ecológica. El bosque que conserva la comunidad, sin contar con apoyo gubernamental, se conoce como La Fabriquita; ahí se encuentra el manantial que beneficia a ocho pueblos de la Costa Chica de Guerrero.

Protecting water by conserving forests puts communities in Mexico to the test

Themes: Conservation, Livlihoods, Policy

Almost 15 years ago, the inhabitants of eight towns in southern Mexico’s Costa Chica decided to conserve an area that provides them with water by setting aside five square kilometers of their land to create an ecological reserve. Previously, sewage from the largest municipality in the area was discharged into the rivers that communities used for washing, bathing and drinking. Conflicts initially broke out between communities over sharing water and contributions to the protection of the reserve, though the project has sensitized people to conservation and increased the amount of water in the spring. However, according to forestry experts, Mexico’s protected natural areas have exceeded the institution’s capacity and available resources, meaning the communities that manage the conservation of the reserve receive little institutional support.

Uganda's Batwa people

Evicted from forests to help save gorillas

Themes: Conservation, Indigenous people, Hunting, Human rights, Parks, Poverty

Evicted from their ancestral forest homes three decades ago in a move to conserve wildlife, many of Uganda's Batwa people struggle for a more dignified way of life.

Namibia’s community wildlife conservation system has come off the rails, investigation shows.

Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resource Management is seen as a global gold standard for conservation. But a probe has found that it’s falling apart.

Themes: Hunting, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, NGOs, Poverty, Conservation, Tourism

An investigation into Namibia’s wildlife management policies and programmes by two environmental researchers has found that the claimed success of conservation in the country and economic benefits for poor rural communities are largely a fabrication.

Ngorongoro's conservation status is becoming increasingly linked to anti-Maasai rhetoric

Loliondo and NCA are two separate but closely related issues. The Maasai in NCA live under harsh restrictions that don’t exist in Loliondo. It’s Loliondo that’s my area of expertise.

Themes: Conservation, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, NGOs, Parks, Pastoralists, Tourism

Leaked short-term eviction plans for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and vicious anti-Maasai hate campaigns in the media have been followed up by an anti-Maasai frenzy in the Tanzanian Parliament when discussing Ngorongoro. Posts from the 12th Feb and 6th Feb follow.