Arbitrary arrests, torture, murder: The WWF will have assisted in several African national parks Ranger, the brutal against the population went in. Also, the Federal government and the EU contribute to blame, say critics.
“We’re being followed and threatened,” complains the pelvis of a woman of the ethnic group of the Baka in Congo. Activists of the human rights organization Survival International have been collecting for years, these and similar testimonies, and writing critical reports about human rights violations of indigenous peoples in nature conservation areas or national parks in the Central African rain forests. In recent years, the actions of the Baka were getting louder and louder. To belong to their home regions and in the forests of Across Dja in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are currently being transformed under the leadership of the environmental Foundation WWF in a national Park. The area was declared a priority landscape for the conservation of great apes and is also the last Elephant stronghold in Africa. The project is financed by German and European taxpayers ‘ money.
“Unscrupulous Nature Conservation Industry”
However, the project is hated by the local population: The Baka feel of the Rangers in the future national Park harassed. They have been living for generations in the forests of Across Dja. “I’m a Baka, my father is a Baka, my mother is a Baka. Our ancestors have entrusted us with this forest. Our food comes from the forest. If we are sick we go there and gather our medicine,” said a Baka woman. Also, your kids should looking for one day in the forest to eat. But now the forest was blocked, complained to you. The people of the Baka will be deprived of its habitat.
The use of the Across-Dja-rainforest for the local population to the risk
According to Survival International, more and more indigenous communities in Africa are the victims of an unscrupulous nature conservation industry. The organization has released in the past few years, new photos, Videos, and witness statements, in which the most serious violations of human rights by WWF-financed game Rangers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Cameroon or the Central African Republic is reported. The allegations ranging from arbitrary arrests to torture and targeted killings.
One of the main allegations: a game warden or Ranger received for each arrest of a poacher’s snare a premium. The Ranger would be motivated by as many as possible Innocent people to detain and arrest: “With this System of premium setting incentives, that persons are arbitrarily detained and that the violence escalated even further,” says Linda Poppe from the Berlin office of Survival International in an interview with DW.
The money for the premiums is to be derived in the case of the Across-Dja-area of the EU. The Federal government financed in the Congo basin, located Salonga national Park, a so-called “performance-based compensation” of the Rangers that also includes bonuses included. The WWF pays premiums to Ranger.
WWF: premiums for gamekeeper “completely normal”
That Rangers get bonuses, was a completely normal thing and be handled in many African countries, says Immo Fischer, spokesman for WWF Germany, at the request of the DW: “Rangers make an extremely dangerous and important Job and should be rewarded for the important work to Be done also.” The idea behind it was that they wanted to prevent corruption: “think of It: If a game warden caught a poacher and that poacher is with two tusks of poached elephants on the move – then the value of these tusks is rapidly outstripping the annual salary of the gamekeeper.” With the premiums for the Ranger they wanted to avoid the poachers purchased, the WWF spokesman.
The illegal ivory trade is a lucrative business
Linda Poppe of Survival International wants to leave the Argument does not apply. Corrupt game Rangers are simply the wrong Partner: “You should put on the people that are in these territories, and which are often distributed for conservation areas – but actually the best allies of conservationists, would be,” says the human rights activist. Instead, they would be punished. The System will set the wrong incentives.
The Federal government is also partly to blame?
Again and again, the German Bundestag dealt with cases of possible human rights violations in protected areas in Africa. Several parliamentary initiatives focused on the topic. Members of the Committee for economic cooperation and development came in your Reports from individual business trips to speak to it.
The member of Parliament Eva Schreiber of the group of “The Left” emphasises again and again the responsibility of the Federal government. The same is true for public institutions such as the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) or the German society for International cooperation (GIZ): “For us, as members of the Bundestag, the question is Central: ‘What is to be financed by the Federal government?'”, it is from the office of the Bundestag.
A very colonial look
Of particular concern to the opposition politician, believes that German taxpayers ‘ money, which would be available for development cooperation, will be issued for the financing of protected areas, in which the local development in focus: “In these natural parks are very well represented unilaterally in the interests of a very conservative nature protection, the appearance is very authoritarian and the local population as a threat is perceived.”
In the case of the German-funded conservation projects in Africa has a very colonial view of the nature in Africa with the swingarm. The black continent will not be viewed rarely as an empty space, where (leopards), elephants, and lions walked. The Federal government should not forget that nature conservation could only succeed with the involvement of the local people, so one of the employees of the members of Eva, a clerk in the DW-interview.
The Federal government checks
Video 05 view:47
Kenya: intelligence for the protection of animals
Facebook Twitter google+ send Tumblr VZ Xing Newsvine Digg
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/34PV0
Kenya: intelligence for the protection of animals
The Federal government has now responded to, expressed earlier, similar allegations: The government to check the compliance with international human rights standards on the basis of the periodic progress reports and site Visits, it was said in reply to a minor Interpellation in the Bundestag. The implementation of the relevant norms and Standards will also promoted through training on-the-spot, for example, through training of Park staff.
The government has commissioned KfW and GIZ, together to carry out a study, “which examines how the claim of human rights in conservation projects in the Congo bill’s pool even better can be worn”, it means more. The promotion of protected areas in the Congo basin should meanwhile be seamlessly continued with the now opened fourth Phase of the programme “Biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest management”.
Staff: Daniel Pelz