This briefing was written in the final year of FPP's project “Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas in Africa: From Principles to Practice” developed with the aim of promoting dialogue between African indigenous peoples and conservation bodies, to break down barriers of ignorance and misunderstanding and to seek viable ways of working together to implement more sustainable and just conservation practices. This study builds upon two other similar projects carried out by FPP in Latin America and Asia* to document the impact of protected areas on indigenous peoples.

Starting in 2001 FPP provided ten African indigenous communities and support organisations with training on human rights and environmental standards, and financial support to conduct a series of community consultations to feed into the preparation of case studies of their experiences of conservation projects on their lands. The case studies review the experiences of Batwa from Nyungwe Forest and the Parc des Volcans in Rwanda, Batwa from Bwindi and Mgahinga National Parks in Uganda, Batwa from around the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Maasai from around the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority in Tanzania, Ogiek from the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya, ‡Khomani San from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (formerly Kalahari Gemsbok National Park) in South Africa, Bagyeli from the Campo Ma’an National Park in Cameroon, and Baka from around the Dja Reserve and the Boumba Bek and Lobeké National Parks in Cameroon. These case studies were prepared by indigenous representatives and a range of non-governmental support organisations and community-based organisations, and financed by the UK Community Fund.

These case studies illustrate some of the important dilemmas that indigenous communities living in biodiverse areas of Africa face daily, and identify some important barriers to the full implementation of the new conservation principles, as set out by the World Commission on Protected Areas** and the relevant provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity. In early September 2001, FPP and CAURWA, the Rwandan Batwa NGO, organised a conference in Kigali where the case studies were presented by indigenous community members and then discussed by representatives from indigenous groups from around Africa, conservation organisations, and indigenous support organisations. This four-day meeting also reviewed obstacles to the implementation of the new conservation principles, and proposed practical means for indigenous groups and conservation organisations to work together in the future.

Participants at the conference learned about the serious problems faced by indigenous communities due to the existence of protected areas on their lands, including forced expulsions, the destruction of livelihoods, and increasing discrimination and marginalisation, both by governments and other social groups. As a result some indigenous communities have been forced into begging, destitution and the loss of identity. In most protected areas covered by the case studies, the absence of effective consultation by conservation projects with indigenous peoples affected by their projects has led to an erosion of trust, and this has been weakened further by the application of double standards – for example – in places where trophy hunting and logging are allowed while indigenous peoples’ subsistence gathering or hunting are heavily restricted, even on lands which form part of their traditional territories.

Central to indigenous peoples’ claims is the desire for secure access to the natural resource base to which they have always asserted customary rights, and which they need to ensure their long-term livelihood security. Demands for State recognition of indigenous rights to land are a key focus of these claims by indigenous peoples.

At the conference, conservation organisation representatives from South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and the United States responded to indigenous peoples’ stories by acknowledging the harm that had been done to indigenous communities by some protected areas, but also the great conservation benefits achieved where rare habitats and species had been under threat from population or logging pressures – threats that still exist. They emphasised that many conservation organisations had not intended to deprive indigenous peoples of their rights, and that protected area managers would be willing to collaborate with legitimate, representative indigenous peoples’ institutions if they were approached with constructive proposals.

At the end of the conference participants worked together to identify concrete ways to move forward in each of their countries. A number of recommendations were made for how to increase the dialogue between protected area managers and indigenous communities, and ways to empower indigenous communities to engage more effectively with their governments and conservation organisations in order to lobby for changes to park management guidelines and practices. These recommendations formed the basis for activities carried out during the second year of this project, when FPP supported indigenous communities and support organisations to continue to engage directly with conservation authorities, and to assess the impacts of improved dialogue on the welfare of their communities. A synthesis of the outcomes of this work will be contained in a book coming out in several months containing the case studies, along with detailed notes of the conference discussions.

A shocking conclusion of this project is that the WCPA/WWF/IUCN Principles and Guidelines on Protected Areas and Indigenous/Traditional Peoples*** are not being followed in any of the ten cases that were examined. Not only are the principles being ignored, but before this project, conservation project managers were largely unaware of the suggested guidelines for enabling the principles to be put into practice, and in most of the cases indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands continue to come under increasing pressure from conservation agencies in their areas. This key finding raises serious questions about the commitment of conservation organisations working in Africa to ensure that the rights of indigenous and traditional communities are protected as they work to conserve biodiversity in these communities’ areas. The long-term welfare of thousands of Africans living in biodiverse areas depends upon the international community addressing the key gaps in implementation of the widely agreed principles. Conservation organisations must therefore address this central issue in the run-up to the World Parks Congress in September 2003.

The full case studies and conference summaries are available on our website (click here), and are also contained in the book, published both in English and French Indigenos Peoples and Protected Areas in Africa: From principles to practice and Les peuples autochtones et les aires protégées en Afrique : du principe à la pratique.

For further information about this project, contact the Forest Peoples Project at:

1c Fosseway Business Centre, Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56 9NQ, UK

tel: +44 (0)1608 652893 fax: +44 (0)1608-652878 email: fpproject@forestpeoples.org

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* Gray, A, A Parellada and H Newing (1998) From Principles to Practice: Indigenous Peoples and Biodiversity Conservation in Latin America. Moreton-in-Marsh: IWGIA, AIDESEP and FPP.

* Colchester, M and C Erni (1999) From Principles to Practice: Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas in South and South East Asia. Moreton-in-Marsh: IWGIA and FPP.

** Phillips, A (2000) Indigenous and Traditional Peoples and Protected Areas: Principles, Guidelines and Case Studies. Gland: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. (wcpa.iucn.org)

*** Beltrán, J (2000) Indigenous and Traditional Peoples and Protected Areas: Principles, Guidelines and Case Studies. Gland: IUCN/WWF.