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The Forest Rights Act (FRA) was enacted in India in 2006 to end top-down conservation practices dating back to the colonial era, which marginalized forest communities. It sought to empower these communities and institutions like the Gram Sabhas with decision-making authority over their forests, including management and protection against threats. The FRA mandates free, prior, and informed consent from Gram Sabhas before any customary forest is repurposed.

• Livelihood Impacts: Indigenous Peoples rely heavily on forest resources such as fishing, prawn seed collection, and honey gathering for their livelihoods.

1. Forced relocation of Tibetan peoples: For decades, Chinese authorities have overseen the mass relocation of Tibetan nomads from their ancestral pastures into urban settlements.

• Sentinelese People (Andaman Islands, India):

  The Sentinelese are an indigenous tribe living in isolation on North Sentinel Island. The human rights concerns here typically revolve around their protection and right to remain undisturbed in their traditional way of life. Encroachment or attempts to contact them can violate their right to self-determination, expose them to diseases they have no immunity to, and disrupt their cultural integrity.[1]

Forceful evictions began when Belgian conservationist Adrien Deschryver lobbied the Congolese government to expand the protected area and evict the Indigenous Peoples living inside it.

More than 60,000 Maya people have been living in the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (SDLNP) and Laguna del Tigre National Park (LDTNP) since before these areas were declared protected, and they are now in a situation of insecurity, constantly facing threats of eviction from their homes.[1] 

In 2011, park rangers working in the region were implicated in a series of incidents resulting in the tragic death of 10-year-old Christine Mayi.^[1]

In 2017, a Congolese group voiced worries that conservation efforts had played a role in the passing of numerous Bayaka children during a 2016 epidemic. A medical specialist linked the deaths to malaria, pneumonia, and dysentery, worsened by profound malnutrition.^[2]

The Batwa are an Indigenous people with an approximate population of about 6,000. Since the 1930s, successive governments have forcibly displaced and excluded the Batwa from their ancestral lands. The government has failed to recognize the Batwa as Indigenous Peoples, instead categorizing them as a minority and marginalized group. It erroneously views the Batwa as migrants from the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Limited public information is available regarding the impact of Virachey National Park’s creation on Indigenous communities and traditional custodians of the land now included in this conservation area. Restrictions on hunting have significantly affected these tribes' ability to provide for their families, both through direct access to food sources and by selling surplus game for income. The tribes rely on the park’s forests for collecting nuts, roots, berries, and herbs, and on its waterways for fishing.

African Parks Network employs over 1,400 rangers tasked with patrolling 22 parks under its management.