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.
Tag: Conservation-Watch
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.
EU scraps US$35 million conservation and climate change programme in Kenya over forced evictions
By Chris Lang The European Union has scrapped its US$35 million Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme in Kenya. The project had been suspended since January 2018, after a Kenya Forest Service guard shot and killed Robert Kirotich, an Indigenous Sengwer man. The shooting took place during a raid in Embobut…
Kenya’s Community Land Action Now: “A win-win solution for forests, human rights and the EU WaTER Project exists – please grasp it!”
By Chris Lang In January 2018, the European Union suspended funding to its Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme in Kenya. The EU announced the suspension of the US$35 million project the day after a Kenya Forest Service guard shot and killed Robert Kirotich, an Indigenous Sengwer man, during a raid…
Open letter to the Convention on Biodiversity: 30% target for protected areas is counterproductive, and will lead to evictions and displacement of Indigenous Peoples
By Chris Lang One of the key proposals for the next Convention on Biodiversity meeting is to increase the area of the planet covered by protected areas to 30% by 2030. The meeting was planned for October 2020, but was postponed because of the coronavirus. It is now planned for May 2021, in Kunming, China….