UN experts warn against heritage status for Kaeng Krachan national park

Themes: Conservation, Indigenous people, Human rights

UN human rights* experts urged the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to defer Thailand’s bid to get a prized heritage listing for the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex, saying the indigenous Karen are being subjected to rights violations in the park.

Hambantota ‘Elephant Management Zone’

A pace-setter to resolve Human-Elephant Conflict

Themes: Agriculture, Conservation, Livlihoods

The year 2019 marked the worst year for human-elephant relations, with 405 elephant deaths at the hands of humans and 121 human deaths by elephants. Most deaths were due to human encroachment of traditional elephant regions, fragmentation of their territory, the use of their territory for development and for illegal activities, thereby depriving elephants of their natural feeding and movement

Wildlife conservation undermines the rights of indigenous people and local communities in India

A new EJAtlas map launched by the Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals ICTA-UAB denounces that the current model puts growth and gains before human lives and the nature it is intended to protect.

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, Parks

An interactive map undertaken by the Environmental Justice Atlas team at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) reveals that certain forms of ‘wildlife conservation’ undermine the rights of indigenous people and local communities living within protected areas across India.

Mapping conflict hotspots as leopards adapt to unlikely habitats outside protected areas

Analysis of leopard attacks on livestock offers clues to potential human-leopard conflict hotspots in North Bengal in eastern Himalayas and Pauri Garhwal in western Himalayas.

Themes: Conservation, Parks, Agriculture

Leopards have adapted to using human-modified landscapes such as tea gardens, sugarcane fields and farmlands and they can survive in unusual, multi-use, fragmented vegetation patches outside protected areas. The study finds the risk of a leopard killing livestock increased within a heterogeneous landscape matrix consisting of both closed and open habitats (very dense forests, moderate dense forests, open forests, scrubland and non-forests).

WWF Says It Is “Troubled” By An Alleged Human Rights Violation At A Park With A History Of Violence

“Conservation should never come at the expense of human rights and well-being.”

Themes: Conservation, NGOs, Human rights, Parks

After guards at a wildlife park funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature were accused of killing a 24-year-old Nepali man earlier this month, the leading conservation charity said it will "advocate for diligence" in the investigation.

Sri Lanka: Rich in biodiversity, and human-wildlife conflict

Themes: Conservation, Poverty, Poaching

- Human-wildlife encounters have increased rapidly in recent years and go beyond elephants and leopards. Competition has grown over the shared space between humans and wildlife due to encroachment, deforestation, habitat degradation, and climate change, putting humans and animals in conflict over land, water and resources. Humans often clash with macaques and langurs as the monkeys are attracted by garbage, are being fed or try to find new habitats due to deforestation. Peafowl are emerging as top agricultural pests due to their expanding range and distribution over the last decade. - Crocodile attacks mainly affect poorer communities that are dependent on unsafe bodies of water, and they often lack awareness of the animals’ behavior. - There is an urgent need to increase awareness around human-wildlife conflict and crop foraging as well as to employ non-violent mitigation measures that take into account the interests of both humans and animals, including fences, garbage management and habitat conservation.

Periyar Tiger Reserve.

A Trendsetter in Converting Poachers to Protectors

Themes: Conservation, Poverty, Poaching, NGOs, Indigenous people, Parks

Then a range forest officer with Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Kerala, Raju K. Francis still remembers that distant afternoon in 1994, when he arrested elusive forest brigand Aruvi from a hideout near an ancient cave in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, where local gangs used to hide smuggled sandalwood. Aruvi was the leader of a 23-member team of wildlife poachers and sandalwood smugglers operating from K.G. Patti, Varusanadu and Lower Gudalur regions of Theni, which were around 20 kilometres from PTR.

Thailand's disappeared Karen activist.

Billy and the burned village.

Themes: Human rights, Poverty, Parks, Indigenous people

An oil barrel discovered at the bottom of a reservoir in a nature reserve in Thailand in April 2019 has cast a light on a story some would rather stayed hidden. It is a tale of powerful men and the lengths they will allegedly go to keep their crimes covered up. But it is also the story of one woman's determination to get justice for the man she loved and the community he was fighting for.