Searchable database of alleged violations against Indigenous Peoples' human rights in protected areas and natural parks.
| Title | Country | Impacted Indigenous People(s) | Short Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex | Thailand | ||
| Isiboro Sécure National Park | Bolivia | ||
| Montaña de los Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park | Honduras | ||
| Central Kalahari Game Reserve | Botswana | San - Bushmen, Bahkwe, Basarwa, Bakgalagadi | In Central Kalahari Game Reserve (Botswana), the San (Bushmen) and other Indigenous groups have endured systematic evictions, violence, and denial of basic rights under state conservation and resource policies. Since the reserve’s creation in 1961—without consultation—major expulsions occurred in 1997, 2002, and 2005, when armed police destroyed homes, sealed water sources, and forcibly relocated hundreds of families. Despite a 2006 High Court ruling affirming the San’s right to return and hunt, authorities have continued to harass, torture, and arrest returnees, including cases of shootings and water access denial. These abuses coincide with diamond and gas extraction projects within the reserve, raising concerns that conservation is being used to mask resource exploitation. The 2011 Court of Appeal confirmed the Bushmen’s right to water, condemning government conduct as degrading, yet violations persist. The CKGR remains a symbol of “green apartheid”, where Indigenous custodians are criminalized while extractive and tourism interests flourish. |
| Tayrona National Park | Colombia | ||
| Laponia World Heritage Site | Sweden | ||
| Mt Elgon National Park (Uganda) | Uganda | ||
| Ngorongoro Conservation Area | Tanzania | ||
| Bardiya National Park | Nepal | Tharu, Sonaha, Raji, Kumal | In Bardiya National Park (Nepal), Indigenous Tharu, Sonaha, Raji, and Kumal peoples have faced decades of forced evictions, arson, killings, and torture under militarized conservation policies. Established on their ancestral lands in 1976 and expanded without consent, the park displaced over 10,000 people, often using soldiers and even elephants to destroy homes. In 2017, the Nepal Army burned more than 100 Tharu houses, and in 2010, soldiers shot and killed two women and a 12-year-old girl collecting bark. Indigenous families who remain face harassment, confiscation of tools, and arbitrary arrests for traditional fishing or forest use. Despite global funding from WWF, UNDP, USAID, and GEF, Bardiya’s model of “fortress conservation” continues to violate rights to land, livelihood, culture, and life, leaving displaced families without restitution or recognition under Nepal’s Forest Rights and human rights obligations. |
| Mau Forest Complex | Kenya | Ogiek | In Mau Forest Complex (Kenya), the Ogiek Indigenous people continue to face systematic displacement, violence, and denial of land rights, despite landmark legal victories affirming their ownership of ancestral lands. Since the forest’s gazettement in 1974, the Ogiek have been forcibly evicted without consultation or compensation, their homes and beehives destroyed, and access to traditional hunting and honey-gathering banned. Although the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2017) and 2022 reparations ruling ordered Kenya to restore and compensate the Ogiek, the state has largely ignored these judgments. Instead, new evictions—such as the 2020 demolition of 600 homes—continue under conservation and carbon initiatives tied to UN-REDD+, WWF, and GIZ. Logging concessions, Itare Dam construction, and politically backed land grabs further threaten both the Ogiek’s survival and the forest ecosystem, exemplifying how Kenya’s conservation policies continue to violate Indigenous rights under the guise of environmental protection. |
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