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Let's start this journey with a simple question.
"Do we live in a culture that stewards nature, or do we live in a culture that worships nature?"
50% of the land designated for conservation protection was inhabited or regularly used at the time it was slated for protection
The United Nations estimate the range of conservation refugees worldwide is five million to tens of millions
Hundreds of thousands of people have died due to conservation efforts by governments and large conservation organizations
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Batwa
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Maasai
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Ahwahnechee
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Adivasi
Conservation Refugees
The United Nations (UN) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimate the range of conservation refugees worldwide is five million to tens of millions. Conservation refugees are people who are forced from their homes when the land they live on is turned into a protected area such as a National Park.
Keepers of the Forest
The Batwa people are one of the oldest documented tribes in Africa. They live high in the mountain forests, straddling several East African countries.
In 1991, the government of Uganda reclassified the lands the Batwa had lived on for millennia as national parks and forcibly removed the Batwa from them. This decision elevated the interests of Western conservation groups to protect mountain gorillas over the lives of the Batwa.
Four in ten children don't survive to age five
The average life expectancy for the Batwa is 28 years, 28.
The are an estimated 6,000 Batwa left
Pastoralists of the Plains
Pastoralism dates back over 5,000 years. For generations, the nomadic Maasai pastoralists have moved their herds across Africa. This group of people helped to maintain ecological corridors and biodiversity. However, the Maasai way of life is disappearing due to traditional grazing lands being reclassified as protected areas. These reclassifications of land are pushed by large conservation organizations that promote the Western mindset that humankind must be removed for nature to thrive.