Cornered by Protected Areas.

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz (UN Special rapporteur) and RRI launch an RRI brief derived from the upcoming Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas report.

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, REDD, Policy, Poverty, CBD, Financialisation

Indigenous Peoples and local communities have been conserving their lands and forests for centuries. But the rise of “fortress conservation” is forcing them from their homes, hurting people and forests alike.

A Decade since Trent Keegan was Murdered and Thomson Safaris Continue Occupying Maasai Land.

View from the Termite Mound A blog about threats against Maasai land in Loliondo - Thomson Safaris, OBC and ruthless hypocrisy.

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Parks, Poverty, Tourism, FPIC

In this blog post: - Tanzania Breweries Limited; Thomson Safaris take Maasai land as their nature refuge; Lesinko shot at Enashiva Nature Refuge; Trent murdered; 2009 drought; The sign; First international article; The PM’s “report”; Unanswered UN letters; The court cases; Becoming a blogger; The negotiations; Children beaten; Five herders prosecuted for trespass; Killing a website; More journalists in trouble; Olunjai shot; The big intimidation campaign in Loliondo; Charity as a weapon – and recently buying who could not be bought; Current silence.

Intimidation and Illegal Arrests to Derail the Case Filed Against the Tanzanian Government by Four Loliondo Villages

View from the Termite Mound A blog about threats against Maasai land in Loliondo - Thomson Safaris, OBC and ruthless hypocrisy.

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Poverty, Parks

In this blog post: “Secret” intimidation and illegal arrest campaign. eNCA piece about Loliondo - husband of interviewed family currently in police custody. The hearing. Another, maybe unrelated, wave of arrests. Kigwangalla’s budget presentation and the timid opposition reaction to Loliondo. Oakland’s response to the Tanzanian government. Manyerere Jackton again. What has happened? (summary that’s very useful for newcomers).

Loliondo Report by the Oakland Institute and Kigwangalla Makes his U-turn Even More Extreme

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

In this blog post: Report by the Oakland Institute; Kigwangalla becomes like his shamelessly lying predecessors; Livestock detained at Wasso market; Secret meeting for a “friendlier special authority”; OBC’s gift to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism; Summary for newcomers.

Escape from Protection: The Catastrophe of Conservation in Panama.

Typified by The Nature Conservancy and The World Wildlife Fund, Global Conservation as such is really an arm of colonialist foreign policy going back at least a century, and its fundamental aims have not changed.

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

Cloaked under a veneer of idealism, protected area conservation is a cynical and ubiquitous foreign policy charade, harming both the environment and its inhabitants throughout the world. Indigenous residents are displaced either as a matter of policy by force or through ecosystem degradation, depending on the protected area category set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Swiss-based body for conservation, founded in 1947 as a lesser-known leg in the postwar international system.

Fenced out of nature.

Outside Kruger National Park, the people who once lived inside may be the key to the reserve’s future.

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Parks, Poverty

Kruger National Park and the communities around its borders represent the global front line in the battle against rhino poaching. South Africa contains the largest remaining rhino populations in the world, and most of the killing is happening in and around Kruger. In these villages, residents are caught in the middle of an escalating fight between poachers and conservationists — one that has grown in intensity and violence as prices skyrocket. Poor and dispossessed, these villages potentially hold the key to solving this crisis in the long run, and yet distrust runs deep.

EU suspends Sh3.6 billion water project over Sengwer rights abuses.

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Poverty

The EU has suspended its Sh3.6 billion water towers initiative with Kenya following violent Sengwer community evictions, ambassador Stefano Dejak has said.

A call to action by Rain Forest UK.

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

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

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.