How ‘community conservations’ and safari tourism devastate lands and lives in northern Kenya
Despite claims that conservatories are community-run, the report exposes how NRT and Kenya Wildlife Services have dispossessed pastoralist communities of their ancestral lands for conservation dollars.
Since its creation in 2004, NRT has set up 39 conservatories over more than 42,000 km2 in Kenya – nearly eight percent of the country. While NRT claims its goal is to “transform people’s lives, ensure peace and conserve natural resources”, pastoralist communities accuse NRT of dispossessing them of their land and of deploying armed security units involved in serious human rights violations.
“NRT, in collaboration with major environmental organizations, embodies a neocolonial, West-led approach to conservation that creates a profitable business at the expense of the local communities who have lived on these lands for centuries,” said the executive director of the ‘Oakland Institute, Anuradha Mittal.
Based on extensive field research, Stealth game provides a comprehensive review of from Kenya land and wildlife conservation laws and details the human rights violations surrounding the privatized model of conservation.
Created by Ian craig, whose family was part of an elite white minority during British colonialism, NRT’s origins date back to the 1980s, when Craig’s family’s 62,000-acre cattle ranch was turned into its first reserve. NRT receives millions of funding from donors such as USAID, the EU, Danish and French development agencies and large NGOs including The Nature Conservancy and Space for Giants.
Affected communities have staged protests, signed petitions and instituted legal proceedings against NRT’s presence on their land. They demand justice after being ignored for years by the Kenyan government and the police when they denounce human rights violations. Stealth game calls for an urgent independent investigation into land and human rights grievances around NRT reservations – including allegations of involvement of NRT rapid response units in inter-ethnic conflicts.
The Oakland Institute is an independent policy think tank and does not accept government or corporate funding. www.oaklandinstitute.org
SOURCE The Oakland Institute
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