Nairobi: A unique gathering of Indigenous people impacted
by conservation has demanded that “our ancestral lands,
including those grabbed for parks and wildlife sanctuaries,
be returned.”
The Nairobi Declaration, issued today
by the newly-formed Indigenous Land Alliance, also contains
a blunt ultimatum to well-known conservation bodies,
including WWF, WCS, African Parks, UNESCO and others:
“Leave our lands and respect our rights, or else we shall
kick you out.”
The Our Land, Our Nature gathering
brought together for the first time Indigenous
representatives from around the world who are fighting
conservation – to expose the human cost of fortress
conservation and carbon markets, while presenting
Indigenous-led alternatives.
The Declaration outlines
the scale of the problem: “For decades, our lands have
been grabbed and stolen by conservation cartels under the
guise of saving Mother Earth. Our territories are turned
into national parks, tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries,
conservancies and trophy hunting reserves without our
consent.”
“Our territories are sold through carbon
markets, biodiversity credits and offset regimes that
greenwash the destructive behavior of transnational
corporations. Despite being designated as “protected
areas”, they are destroyed, handed over for open-pit
mining, “green” mining for critical transitional
minerals, and commercial plantations of rubber, pine, tea,
coffee, soy and teak. They are opened up for safari tourism
that disrespects Indigenous Peoples and our
ancestors.”
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“Behind all of it stands a coalition
of governments, transnational companies and international
“conservation” NGOs. They control our territories
because they are bankrolled by wealthy northern countries,
multilateral development banks, multilateral financial
institutions, the World Bank, fossil fuel and polluting
industries, and the like. Today our lands are administered
by governments, NGOs and elites. Not by us. This is not
conservation. It is nothing more than a
cartel.”
“We oppose conservation characterised by
market systems, land grabbing, greenwashing by major
polluters, and false nature-based solutions.”
The
hard-hitting Declaration has been issued by the 60
Indigenous people from 16 countries around the world who
came together for the unprecedented gathering. They have
formed a new network, the Indigenous Land Alliance, to drive
forward the demands outlined in the Nairobi
Declaration.
The Indigenous delegates came from:
Argentina (Qom and Mbya Guarani
peoples)
Bolivia (Uchupiamona Indigenous
people)
Botswana (Kua people)
Cambodia (Bunong
Indigenous people)
Cameroon (Baka people)
Colombia
(Pasto people)
Congo, Rep. (Baka people)
Ecuador
(Kichwa people))
India (Jenu Kuruba people)
Kenya
(Ogiek, Samburu, Rendille, Maasai, Borana, Sengwer
peoples)
Nepal (Tharu people)
Peru (Kichwa
people)
Tanzania (Maasai people)
Thailand (Plong Karen
people)
Uganda (Mosopisyek/Kalenjin sub-group)
United
States (Diné and Dakota nations)
Note:
This
unique gathering was organized by Conservation Solutions
Afrika and Survival International.
Indigenous Mising
activist Pranab Doley (N.E. India) was due to speak at the
conference but was arrested in July and imprisoned for
leading a protest against a luxury hotel project that will
affect Indigenous people near Kaziranga National Park,
India.
Today, at least 3 million Indigenous people
across Africa, Asia and the Americas are paying the price
for conservation — with their land and with their lives.
Conservation steals their territory, their livelihoods. It
brings violence and hunger.
At least 1.1 billion
hectares (2.7 billion acres) of Indigenous land have been
stolen in the name of conservation.
Conservation —
perceived by many as a positive movement — threatens the
ways of life of Indigenous peoples on three continents. Its
effects are on a par with the theft of Indigenous
territories by logging, mining, gas extraction and
narco-trafficking.
