India’s tiger reserves are often considered a global success story in conservation. Yet, beneath this public image lies a tragic and ongoing conflict: the forced eviction of Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands.

Edward, a Maasai leader and a recently appointed member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, speaks out in a video testimony explaining the issue of “business rather than conservation.“

This side event, held on 16 July 2025 during the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), shed light on ongoing human rights violations linked to the creation and management of protected areas, particularly UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

As an advocate admitted to the Bar in Kenya with an accomplished background in Indigenous Peoples’ human rights, Kiptoo is committed to continue the Endorois’ struggle in reclaiming their rights and ancestral lands, despite the slow pace of justice in his home country.

Forests pulsate with life, essential for the Ogiek people and all humankind. For the Ogiek, a hunter-gatherer society rooted in the high-altitude regions of Kenya's Mau Forest Commission and Mount Elgon for millennia, these woodlands are life itself, the source of their sustenance, culture and spiritual beliefs.

While glossy images of the Maasai and their iconic lands often grace travel brochures, a starkly different reality of land theft and displacement unfolds behind the scenes.

A few months before we visited the Ogiek community to film their testimonies, without any prior notice many households had been evicted, an estimated 167 houses and a school burned down.

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.