Searchable database of alleged violations against Indigenous Peoples' human rights in protected areas and natural parks.
| Title | Country | Impacted Indigenous People(s) | Short Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taman Negara National Park of Peninsular Malaysia | Malaysia | Batek, Orang Asli, Temiar, Jakun | In Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia), the Batek and Orang Asli Indigenous peoples face ongoing displacement, pollution, and repression tied to conservation and industrial projects. Established in 1939 under British rule, the park’s creation and later carbon and logging initiatives have excluded Indigenous communities from ancestral lands. In 2019, 14 Orang Asli died after suspected mining pollution, while Temiar villagers resisting deforestation were arrested and attacked despite court rulings affirming their rights. Conservation groups warn that Taman Negara exemplifies “fortress conservation”—where environmental protection and carbon schemes advance at the expense of Indigenous survival and sovereignty. |
| Tengis Shishged National Park | Mongolia | Dukha Mobile Indigenous People | In Tengis Shishged National Park (Mongolia), the Dukha Indigenous reindeer herders face severe restrictions on their traditional livelihoods following the park’s establishment in 2011 without their consent. Once free to roam and hunt across the taiga, the Dukha were confined to limited grazing zones and banned from hunting or using dogs to protect their reindeer. These policies—framed as conservation—have undermined their food security, culture, and nomadic traditions. In 2016, five Dukha hunters were arrested and threatened with prison for hunting to survive, highlighting the criminalization of subsistence under Mongolia’s “green protection” regime. Rights groups warn that the Dukha’s way of life, one of the world’s last reindeer-herding cultures, is being erased through fortress-style conservation imposed without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). |
| Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and Tiger Reserve | India | Mising/Mishing, Karbi, Assamese | In Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (India), Indigenous Mising, Karbi, and Assamese communities face violent displacement and killings under militarized conservation policies. Once traditional custodians of the land, many have been evicted since the park’s expansion, often without notice or compensation. A 2010 state order granted legal immunity to park guards who routinely employ “shoot-on-sight” tactics—over 100 people have been killed in the last two decades, including villagers accused of poaching or crossing park borders for firewood or cattle. Evictions in 2015 and 2019 destroyed hundreds of homes, leaving families landless despite the Forest Rights Act. Supported by major donors such as WWF, UNESCO, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kaziranga has become a global symbol of “fortress conservation,” where militarized wildlife protection overrides Indigenous rights to life, land, and livelihood. |
| Nagarhole National Park and Nagarhole Tiger Reserve | India | Jenukuruba, Bettakurubaa, Yerawa, Soliga | In Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve (India), the Jenu Kuruba, Yerava, Bettakuruba, and Soliga peoples have endured decades of violent displacement, killings, and cultural repression in the name of wildlife conservation. Since the 1970s, thousands of Indigenous families have been evicted without consent or compensation, and recent years have seen escalating abuse—including custodial deaths, shootings, and harassment of Jenu Kuruba leaders resisting removal. Despite filing claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), their rights remain unrecognized, while forest officials block access to sacred sites and ancestral burial grounds. Supported by both Indian and foreign conservation groups, Nagarhole has become emblematic of India’s “fortress conservation” model—where tigers are protected, but the Indigenous custodians of the forest are criminalized, displaced, and silenced. |
| Melghat Tiger Reserve | India | Korku, Gawli, Gond, Balai, Halbi, Wnjari, Nihal, Burad, Rathiya | In Melghat Tiger Reserve (India), Indigenous communities—including the Korku, Gond, Gawli, and others—have faced decades of forced displacement, violence, and criminalization under India’s tiger conservation program. Since the reserve’s creation in 1974, thousands of families have been evicted—often without consent, fair compensation, or rehabilitation. Protests against the ongoing relocations have been met with police brutality, arrests, and custodial torture, including the 2022 death of a young man allegedly beaten by forest staff. Despite these abuses, local communities continue to demand recognition of their forest and fishing rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). While recent rulings have acknowledged some land claims, Melghat remains a stark example of India’s “conservation-by-eviction” model that prioritizes wildlife protection over Indigenous survival. |
| Mochongoi Forest Reserve | Kenya | ||
| Lake Baringo National Park | Kenya | ||
| Monte Roraima National Park | Brazil | ||
| Salazar Ranch | Paraguay | ||
| Te Urewera National Park | New Zealand |
Disclaimer: The Conservation database contains allegations related to human rights violations of indigenous peoples impacted by protected areas, national parks and other conservation measures. Allegations of human rights violations were collected from a wide range of sources, including thematic, country, and fact-finding mission reports submitted by indigenous organizations, individual experts, non-governmental organizations and other civil society actors, newspaper articles, petitions, communications, statements, and other relevant information or materials issued by United Nations independent experts and human rights mechanisms. The information provided in this database does not necessarily reflect the official views of the University of Arizona, the University of Arizona College of Law, or the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, nor is there any guarantee or endorsement of any information or views expressed therein. If you wish to add additional allegations, please reachout to us via email law-conservation@arizona.edu