An open letter, signed by authors from multiple institutions, highlights the problems with the working paper, “Protecting 30% of the planet for nature”.
Tag: Conservation-Watch

Sarah Milne on REDD in Cambodia: “Unchecked government power, the erosion of Indigenous rights, and violence against environmental defenders”
REDD in Cambodia. Three things make Sarah Milne, Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University, uncomfortable about REDD credits: Unchecked government power, the erosion of Indigenous rights, and violence against environmental defenders.

“Killings, torture, sexual and physical violence and intimidation have no place in conservation”: NGOs react to WWF’s “independent review” on human rights abuses
By Chris Lang In March 2019, BuzzFeed News published a year-long investigation that found that WWF had funded and equipped eco-guards who have tortured, sexually assaulted, and killed people. In response, WWF launched an “independent review”. WWF finally released the review this week. It is, of course, pure coincidence that the review came out just…

Democratic Republic of Congo: Kahuzi-Biéga National Park management’s false accusations against Batwa chief are “incredibly dangerous”
By Chris Lang One night in late January 2020, dozens of soldiers and eco-guards stormed into Jean-Marie Kasula’s hut and dragged him and his wife away at gun point. Four other people from the same village were taken away barefoot.

US government stops funding to WWF, WCS and other conservation organisations because of human rights abuses
By Chris Lang In autumn 2019, the US government suspended US$12.3 million of funding to the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). This followed a bipartisan congressional oversight investigation to examine whether US conservation funds were supporting eco-guards who committed human rights abuses.