Will you back the Baka, friend?
- Details
- Published on Friday, 09 November 2018 08:12
- Written by editor
WWF is violating international law
URGENT ACTION
Dear PAOV,
The Baka fear for their future.
They are about to see the forests they’ve lived in and protected for generations stolen from them. It’s a land grab, driven by Western organizations, just like colonial times. If it goes ahead, their lives will be destroyed.
They’re being evicted to make way for the creation of a new national park in the Congo Basin, Messok Dja. It’s backed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). And it's completely illegal.
It’s time to decolonize conservation.
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Despite what WWF may say, the Baka have not agreed to this project. How could they? For years, WWF-funded park rangers have been entering the Baka’s forest and beating and torturing any tribal people they find there.
One Baka man told us, “If they see us, they just beat us with machetes. Bam, bam, bam on your body.” People that already live in fear of persecution and violence are in no position to give their consent.
We need to stop the creation of Messok Dja – for the Baka, and for nature.
Colonial conservation is destined to fail, just as colonialism did. When local people have their land stolen and their livelihoods criminalized by conservation, they turn against national parks.
Please write to WWF using the template below asking them to stop supporting the creation of Messok Dja National Park.
You can also tweet @WWF using the hashtags #BackingTheBaka and #decolonizeCONservation and join the conversation on Facebook.
We need to act now if we are going to stop this park in time.
Thank you so much for your help.
Best wishes,
Stephen Corry
Director
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Subject: WWF, stop backing Messok Dja
Dear Dr Lambertini,
I am very concerned by WWF’s involvement in the creation of Messok Dja National Park in the Republic of Congo, a project which doesn’t have the consent of local Baka communities.
It is illegal, not to mention a violation of your own indigenous peoples policy.
For years, WWF-funded park rangers have been entering the Baka’s forest and beating and torturing any tribal people they find there. People that already live in fear of persecution and violence are in no position to give their consent.
By turning local communities against you, you are also jeopardizing your goal of protecting the area’s wildlife. As WWF’s law enforcement specialist said recently: “It doesn’t matter how effective your rangers are, if the people around the park hate you, you can’t protect the park.”
For the sake of the Baka, and the wildlife, of Messok Dja, I urge you to respect the Baka’s rights as set out in your own policy and national and international law, and stop supporting the creation of Messok Dja National Park.
Yours sincerely,
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