NO MORE GREEN LIES,
DECOLONIZE
CONSERVATION!
How would you feel if you were evicted from your home? If
your friends and family were tortured and killed when they try
to feed themselves? That's the reality for Indigenous Peoples
in Protected Areas in many parts of the world.
Big conservation NGOs are deeply embroiled in these
appalling human rights abuses. They lobby for the creation of
Protected Areas, fund operations, train guards, provide
equipment, and very often even manage parks where
Indigenous and other local people are subjected to evictions,
violence and abuse. They have known about this for years,
even decades, yet have failed to take responsibility
or put a stop to it. Enough is enough!
Join our protest to put a stop to this and Decolonize Conservation!
WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN OUR PROTEST IN NEW YORK CITY?
We will be protesting outside the Bronx Zoo, which is run by the Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS), one of the world’s oldest conservation
organizations, with a long history of complicity in human rights abuses in
the name of conservation.
WCS shamelessly pushes false solutions for biodiversity protection (like
more Protected Areas), while promoting a conservation system that
results in the eviction, rape, torture and killing of Indigenous people.
The WCS is a key funder of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. In Kahuzi-Biega, park rangers, together
with the Congolese military, have committed a series of horrific atrocities
against the Indigenous Batwa people whose lands were stolen to create
the park. WCS, along with the US and German governments, have turned
a blind eye to abuses which included killings, gang-rapes and the burning
alive of Batwa children.
Kahuzi-Biega is just one example of horrific abuses in Protected Areas
across Africa and Asia. Join our protest to demand that WCS, and other
conservation organizations and funders, stop supporting colonial
conservation which is devastating the lives of Indigenous people.
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH CURRENT
MODELS OF CONSERVATION?
Mainstream conservation relies on a colonialist model of ‘fortress conservation’, which sees people as separate from - and even harmful to - ‘nature’. This leads to Indigenous land being stolen - and its Indigenous owners being evicted and even abused - to make ‘Protected Areas’. There are growing calls to fund this through the selling of carbon credits from this land, a so-called ‘Nature-Based Solution’ to climate change. But these are false solutions, dangerous and unjust, and do not adequately consult the Indigenous Peoples they impact.
They divert attention from the real causes of environmental destruction and climate change, and from those who are most responsible.
This is not a coincidence! Many big conservation NGOs partner with the most polluting corporations and governments on Earth.
We can’t trust the people who have destroyed nature to protect it!
They won’t stop biodiversity loss or climate change, for which a real change in our way of life is necessary.
In fact, Protected Areas don’t protect nature! Often, to make room for Protected Areas, Indigenous Peoples are kicked out. But evidence proves that Indigenous Peoples take care of and manage their environment better than anyone else. Once communities are gone, others, including tourists and even extractive industries, are welcomed in.
Protected Areas don’t protect people!
They are usually created without the consent of the people who have been living there for generations and in violation of their rights. Mainstream conservation is increasingly militarized, leading to atrocities - like rape, torture, murder and the eviction of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
30x30 will be the biggest land grab in history, leading to more human rights violations in the name of “conservation”.
These plans are unjust – 30x30 and the NBS will come at the expense of those least responsible for the climate crises: Indigenous Peoples and other local people, mostly based in the Global South.
COLONIALIST CONSERVATION LEADS TO VIOLENCE AND MISERY
We must challenge the reliance on ‘Protected Areas’
and Nature-Based Solutions and instead
centre real solutions for our planet - like recognizing
Indigenous land rights.
WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?
Social and climate justice!
Indigenous Peoples are the best conservationists - their territories safeguard 80% of global biodiversity - but their voices are silenced, their rights violated and their lives continue to be threatened. In the meantime, the real causes of environmental destruction are ignored in the main conservation conferences: exploitation of natural resources for profit and growing overconsumption, driven by the Global North.
It is time to decolonize conservation, put Indigenous Peoples and their rights at the core of climate action, and address the real problems.
WHAT DO WE PROPOSE INSTEAD?
Real solutions - ones that are anti-racist, anti-colonial and respect diversity - are already here, and they work! These are solutions that put tribal peoples at the heart of conservation, like landback movements, and prioritize their voices in our efforts to solve the climate and biodiversity crises.
This approach means that governments must respect, protect and fulfill Indigenous Peoples’ rights, including recognition of all land rights. This is by far the most effective and just way to protect biodiversity.
A radical decolonial vision of conservation will be discussed at the conference - More to come!
GET INVOLVED
JOIN OUR PROTEST TO DECOLONIZE CONSERVATION AND FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.
IN PERSON (with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir)
When: Saturday, April 15th - 12 noon
Where: We will assemble at the Bronx Zoo (New York City). More details to come!
Are you coming to New York? Register below!
VIRTUAL PROTEST
If you can’t make it to New York City in person, join us virtually and get involved online!
We’ve prepared a social media Virtual Protest Kit where you’ll find everything you need to protest online.
Here are just a few examples of what’s available, find lots more in the protest kit.
GET IN TOUCH
We welcome organizations, movements and activists all over the world who want to join and support our protest.
If you are interested, please reach out to olon@survivalinternational.org