By Chris Lang Earlier this week, the US House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing titled, “Protecting Human Rights in International Conservation”. The hearing repeatedly exposed WWF’s failure to take responsibility for its role in human rights abuses.
Tag: WWF
WWF apologises for human rights abuse allegations and commits to an indigenous-led approach to global conservation
By Chris Lang On 2 June 2021, a hoax WWF website appeared online that included the following headline: “WWF apologises for human rights abuse allegations and commits to an indigenous-led approach to global conservation”.
REDD-Minus: New report reveals the reality of REDD in Mai Ndombe, Democratic Republic of Congo
By Chris Lang A recent report by Action pour la Promotion et Protection des Peoples et Espèces Menacées (APEM) and Rainforest Foundation UK looks at the social impacts of two REDD projects in Mai Ndombe province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The report is based on grassroots research carried out over two years. The…
“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…
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.