"If the officials come and shoot us we are ready to die, but not to leave the forest"

In carrying out its species protection and conservation goals through Project Tiger, India has been found responsible for the commission of large-scale and systematic human rights violations committed against the Indigenous communities living within or near the protected areas.

The court issued several orders, including a permanent injunction prohibiting NRT and its partners from conducting any conservancy operations, including recruitment and deployment of rangers, in the affected areas.

In 2017, the government published Legal Notice Number 265 which converted over 13,000 hectares belonging to the Endorois people into Mukutani Forest, Baringo County. This was done without the legal requirement of free prior and informed consent and compensation.

Indigenous people in The Philippines are helping with an effort to use a method of cultivation known as “rainforestation farming” to help restore forestlands degraded by commercial logging and rejuvenate ecosystems that can prevent flooding, Mongabay reported on Jan. 17.

This alternative report is submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program.

The IPLP Program’s Indigenous Rights & Protected Areas Initiative aligns with global efforts to address human rights concerns stemming from conservation policies that exclude Indigenous communities.

Since 2003, WWF has partnered with a for-profit corporation, Natural Habitat Adventures (“NatHab” as it calls itself), to offer its customers “the opportunity to explore the world's wild places.” One of those “wild places” is Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), where as many as 100,000 Maasai Indigenous Peoples are being evicted by the government and forced to leave their homes and the lands they’ve lived on for centuries.

The case studies show how the Indigenous Peoples of Kenya have lost land through annexation to create protected areas. The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) manage these areas through fortress conservation methods with force and violence, targeting Indigenous Peoples. Similarly, private ecotourism ventures are negatively impacting Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Kenya.

This report on India’s Tiger Reserves, The World Wildlife Fund, and Violations of the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the second in a series produced by The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program (IPLP) Initiative on Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas.