The Mau Forest complex – which spans four Kenyan districts including Kericho, Nakuru, Bomet, and Narok – is rapidly declining due to human deforestation.
Category: Conservation
Conservation goes unrecognized as likely the greatest source of land alienation in the territories of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples are widely praised for their stewardship of land, water and natural resources such as forests and wildlife. The Global North seeks more forest cover for climate change mitigation and carbon emissions offset, and pristine landscapes and exotic fauna for tourism and trophy hunting. It cannot produce these in its own territories due to well-protected property rights and greatly reduced wildlife diversity. Hence undue pressure arises on the Global South to compensate with their land and natural resources and indigenous peoples tend to pay the highest price.
African Parks Foundation vs. Indigenous Peoples
Evictions of Mursi and other indigenous peoples in Omo and Nechisar National Parks, Ethiopia. Photo Credit: Anne Steinbach Clemens Sehi
Denial of Legal Recognition for Baka in Cameroon
Indigenous Baka face violence and precarious conditions from conservation, mining, logging, and rubber plantations.
Batwa vs. Kahuzi National Park
Batwa communities were forcefully removed from their land in Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB) without further accommodations. Evictions have harmful consequences for these communities. Particularly for indigenous groups that have cultural ties and foraging practices that are connected with the forest. Despite the importance of the national park as an established home to Batwa communities, the…
Hadzabe Facing Extinction
One of the world’s last and most ancient hunter-gatherer societies struggle for survival in northern Tanzania.
Baka Communities Face Eviction in the Congo Basin
The Baka people in the Congo Basin are fighting to remain in and preserve the forests.
Bagungu vs. Murchison Falls National Park
Bagungu people are an indigenous group living in the Buliisa District near Lake Albert in northwest Uganda. Since the creation of Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP), maintaining their pastoralist livelihood has become a challenge.
Maasai vs. Maasai Mara National Reserve
Maasai members had over two-thirds of their land taken away during British and Kenyan rule in 1961 to create the Maasai Mara National Reserve and were forced onto smaller pieces of land in Narok and Kajiado Districts. A 2004 petition for compensation and the reclaimed land was turned aside by the government, leading to protests and…
The Sengwer
The Sengwer are an indigenous hunter-gatherer community facing eviction from their home in the Embobut Forest in the Trans Nzoia district of Kenya. Despite an end to the project causing the evictions, justice has yet been seen by the Sengwer.
The Ogiek
The Ogiek are a hunter-gatherer community who have won two landmark court cases this decade to remain on their ancestral land in the Mau Forest and be recognized as indigenous rights holders.