Conservation

Eleven Tribes Unite For Yellowstone Buffalo On National Bison Day

November 7, 2023 Last Real Indians. Organize! Buffalo, Conservation, Environment, Idaho, Indigenous Peoples, Yellowstone

Fort Hall, Idaho - On National Bison Day, Buffalo Field Campaign invited the Yellowstone affiliated tribes to express their perspectives on shared Tribal stewardship of Yellowstone Buffalo. Delegates from 11 sovereign nations came together at this historic summit to discuss this matter of paramount importance. Many indigenous languages-- Shoshone, Ute, Crow, Arapahoe, Northern Cheyenne, Cree, Nez Perce, Lakota/Dakots, and English—were used to speak in solidarity on the sacredness and importance of buffalo to the people and ecosystems of Turtle Island (North America). Indigenous Buffalo lifeways have many different specific names and words related and center around the buffalo.

Tanzanian Farmers Are Paying For ‘Conservation’ With Their Land, Lives

October 17, 2023 Tanupriya Singh, People's Dispatch. Resist! Conservation, Farmers, Land grabs, Tanzania, World Bank

Located in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands, the district of Mbarali in the Mbeya region has long been considered the country’s “rice basket”. However, for the past year, smallholder farmers in the area have been unable to cultivate the grain even to securely feed themselves, let alone produce for the market. These farmers are among 21,252 people in Mbarali who are facing eviction from their land under the guise of a ‘biodiversity conservation’ project— namely, the expansion of the Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA) — being undertaken by the Tanzanian government, with funding from the World Bank.

Evictions Disguised As Conservation

August 29, 2023 Soleil-Chandni Mousseau, LA Progressive. Educate! Conservation, Displacement, Eviction, Land Reform, Maasai, Tanzania

We journeyed through the dirt tracks in the middle of the savanna—the vibrant crimson of the Maasai shukas making cardinal dots in the arid landscape. Zebras grazed in polyphony with cows, and the occasional giraffe paced gracefully, stretching its freckled neck towards the sky. Wildebeest and gazelles stampeded through the lands, a cloud of dust trailing behind them. From the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the landscapes of northern Tanzania are mesmerizing. The Ngorongoro Crater, often referred to as the “eighth wonder of the world,” is a natural marvel—a massive volcanic caldera teeming with wildlife amidst many shades of lush golden hues.

The Kichwa Community Demands Justice For Violation Of Territorial Rights

March 29, 2023 Matias Perez Ojeda Del Arco, Forest Peoples Programme. Resist! Conservation, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Peru

A public hearing was held for the writ of amparo lawsuit filed by the Puerto Franco Kichwa community, who sued the Peruvian State and the Cordillera Azul National Park (PNCAZ) for failing to title their traditional lands, the imposition of an exclusionary conservation model and the generation of profits from the sale of carbon credits without their consent, in the San Martin region of the Peruvian Amazon. On 22 March, a public hearing was held as part of the amparo process that has been going on before the Mixed Court of Bellavista since 2020, brought forward by the Indigenous Kichwa community of Puerto Franco and the Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA).

Rewilding Could Help Limit Warming Beyond 1.5°C

March 29, 2023 Paige Bennett, Ecowatch. Create! Animals, climate crisis, Conservation, Rewilding

It’s no secret that preserving and restoring wilderness areas is good for ecosystems, but a new study has pinpointed another major benefit to rewilding. According to the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, rewilding, or preserving and restoring wildlife and wilderness areas, could improve natural carbon sinks in ecosystems, therefore boosting natural methods of carbon capture and helping the world limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Scientists studied nine wildlife species for the study: marine fish, whales, sharks, gray wolves, wildebeest, sea otters, musk oxen, African forest elephants and American bison.

A Guide To Decolonize Language In Conservation

October 12, 2022 Survival International. Strategize! Conservation, Decolonization, Sustainability, World Wildlife Foundation

Scientific evidence shows that Indigenous people understand and manage their environment better than anyone else: 80% of Earth’s biodiversity can be found in Indigenous territories. The best way to protect biodiversity is therefore to respect the land rights of Indigenous peoples – the best conservationists. Nevertheless, the mainstream conservation model today is still, just as in colonial times, “Fortress Conservation”: a model that creates militarized Protected Areas accessible only to the wealthy on the lands of Indigenous peoples. This “conservation” is destroying the land and lives of Indigenous peoples. But this is where most of the Western funding for nature protection is going. Why? Because the myths that sustain this model of conservation are reproduced in school texts, media, wildlife documentaries, NGO adverts, etc.

The Better Way To Right An Old Wrong

August 29, 2022 Cris Stainbrook, Native News Online. Create! Conservation, Indigenous Sovereignty, Land Reform, Minnesota

Imagine one day City Hall seized your home’s front and back yards, along with your driveway, front walk and back porch. Yes, you’d still have a house where you could eat, sleep and reside. But you’d no longer have your full home and what was rightly yours. Now, imagine you were given the opportunity for that land to be returned to you. All you’d have to do is promise to never change a thing. You could maybe do something benign – pruning the trees or mowing the grass – but you could not build a shed, start a garden, or add a swing set for your children. Would you take the deal? This, in essence, is the deal Indian Country is commonly offered when land conservation organizations offer to return anywhere from 10 to 10,000 acres of land to Native American tribes. Land that was wrongly taken from tribes more than 100 years ago is often only returned if the tribes agree to adhere to someone else’s interpretation of what’s best.

Swedish Neighbors Conserve Water by Holding ‘Ugliest Lawn’ Contest

August 28, 2022 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Create! Conservation, Environment, Sweden, Water

On the island of Gotland in Sweden, residents have spent this year letting their green lawns die off in a mass effort to conserve water. Irrigation bans led neighbors to get creative, offering a title to whoever ended up with the ugliest lawn. For this year, Marcus Norström’s lawn took the crown. The jury described the winning lawn humorously as “a really lousy lawn that lives up to all our expectations of Gotland’s ugliest lawn and has good conditions for a more sustainable improvement.” The jury also said the lawn exhibited “meritorious laziness” and “great care for our common groundwater,” as reported by The Guardian. The prize: a visit from Sara Gistedt, one of the lawn judges and a gardener, who will advise Norström on what drought-resistant plants to add to his property.

‘Wildlife Conservation’ Groups Fuel Violence Against Congolese

July 8, 2022 Rania Khalek, BreakThrough News. Resistance Report Animals, Conservation, DR Congo, Environment

On its face, nothing seems more benign and positive than “wildlife conservation.” But the Wildlife Conservation Society and the German and US governments have now been implicated in supporting organized violence against Congolese villagers, using mortars, RPGs, indisciminate fire, murder and rape. This is the finding of award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Robert Flummerfelt. Flummerfelt and his team uncovered a three-year campaign of violence by park authorities to expel Batwa people from their lands, using funding and trained by the West and conservation groups.

Land Grabs And The Propaganda Of Conservation

June 17, 2022 AL. Sène, Africa Is A Country. Educate! Africa, Conservation, Environment, Land grabs

Amid the unprecedented global ecological crisis, Africa still supports one quarter of the world’s biodiversity and the largest assemblages of megafauna. Indigenous Africans of the rangelands, desert, and forests have always protected their fauna and flora. Land where they exercise traditional rights has proven to be central for global biodiversity conservation. But today they are facing the threat of a colossal land grab by Western conservation agencies, and their corporate and state allies, who advocate to double the coverage of protected areas around the world by setting aside 30 percent of terrestrial cover for conservation by 2030. Protected areas are the national parks, forests, game reserves, and other places from which states evict original inhabitants for biodiversity conservation.

The Maasai’s Peaceful Fight Over Their Homeland

May 24, 2022 Robert Bociaga, Fair Planet. Resist! Africa, Conservation, Indigenous Rights, Land Reform

Native to the north of the country, Tanzania’s Maasai people have been protesting against the government’s renewed efforts to strip them of the right to occupy and use their ancestral lands. What would it take to defend their homeland? "I am born to live my life," says Denis Moses Oleshangai, a Maasai youth activist hailing from northern Tanzania, in the Ngorongoro province’s village of Endulen. "But to live my life I need to achieve my dreams, so I will be fighting even if there is any danger, or obstacle for community and myself." In recent years, many Maasai activists were arrested for speaking out. In 2017, around 200 Maasai houses were burned in Loliondo, their livestock confiscated.

Creating A Global Patchwork For Nature

March 5, 2022 Geoffrey Holland And Mary Reynolds, Resilience. Create! climate crisis, Conservation, Environment

Most gardens, parks, or human-controlled land of any kind, have traditionally been maintained as personal visions of what is considered a socially fashionable and acceptable beauty. An Ark is what we call those places which have been set free from those chains to heal our planet, patch by patch. It is a restored, native ecosystem, a local, small, medium, or large rewilding project. A thriving patch of native plants and creatures that have been allowed and supported to re-establish in the Earth’s intelligent, successional process of natural restoration. Over time this becomes a pantry and a habitat for our pollinators and wild creatures who are in desperate need of support. This takes time to happen but it begins to re-establish itself as a simple ecosystem very quickly and over time it becomes a strong wildlife habitat and eventually a multi-tiered complex community of native plants, creatures, and micro-organisms.

Conservationists See Rare Nature Sanctuaries

November 15, 2021 Tony Briscoe, Pro Publica. Educate! Black Farmers, Conservation, Land Rights, Racism

The loss of Black-owned land in this community exposes a cruel irony. Pembroke has been one of the few places Black landowners could gain a foothold in Illinois, in part because this land was passed over by white settlers who presumed its sandy soils were worthless. And now, after generations without large-scale development or landscape-destroying corporate farming, this land has become sought after by outside conservationists because Pembroke’s savannas remain largely untouched.

When Conservation Means Fencing Out Black Farmers

November 7, 2021 Tony Briscoe, In These Times. Educate! Black Farmers, Conservation, Environment, Land grabs

The Sweet Fern Savanna Land and Water Reserve, in the heart of Pembroke Township, Illinois, offers a glimpse into what much of the area looked like before European settlers drained swamps and cleared forests to grow corn and soybeans. At least 18 threatened or endangered plant and animal species, including the ornate box turtle and regal fritillary butterfly, have been sighted here. Mature oaks tower over verdant fields of clustered sedge and Carolina whipgrass. Warbling songbirds and buzzing cicadas add a mellow soundtrack to the tranquil scene. Sixty miles south of Chicago, this wildlife reserve is among nearly 2,900 acres owned by private individuals and environmental groups — most prominently, The Nature Conservancy — trying to establish a network of nature sanctuaries in Kankakee County.

WWF Accused Of Deceit, Cover-Ups And Dishonesty

October 28, 2021 Survival International. Educate! Conservation, Human Rights, Violence, WWF

An unprecedented hearing by the US House Natural Resources Committee has seen WWF’s reputation shredded by Representatives from both parties, and independent experts, and a denunciation of the “fortress conservation” model that leads to human rights atrocities. The organization was subjected to unprecedented attack for its involvement in human rights abuses, and refusal to take responsibility for them. Survival International’s Fiore Longo called it “the conservation industry’s equivalent of the Abu Ghraib scandal – a moment from which it will never recover.” The hearing was prompted by exposés by Buzzfeed News and many other investigations, including testimonies from Indigenous people collected by Survival International over many years, that laid bare WWF’s involvement in human rights abuses, particularly in Africa and Asia.

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