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Conference participants in South Africa voiced their disapproval of the 'parks without people' approach used by governments to manage them
Photo: IUCN/IISD
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National
parks are good, but the parks without people approach that governments use to
establish and manage them “is violating our rights”, said communities from
Africa and Asia at the 5th World Parks Congress, held in Durban, South Africa
from 8-17 September, 2003.
The
Asian and African community representatives said parks “are important sources
of human livelihoods as they provide natural resources … that sustain human
lives.” Apart from their request to be granted legal rights to benefit from
park resources, the communities also want to be involved in the co-management of
parks.
“We
need to recognize, as a community of professional managers, that non-profit
groups, local communities, indigenous peoples, and other groups are a crucial part
of preserving and managing parklands,” said Dr. Kenton Miller, chairman
of the 5th World Parks Congress and vice president for conservation at the World
Resources Institute. “Parks and protected areas are vital sources of human
livelihoods,” he said, “and people who depend on these places can play an
important role in helping to manage and protect them.”
Geisler’s
2001 research established that many protected areas worldwide encroach on and
“are found within and overlap with lands, territories and resources of
indigenous and traditional peoples”.
In
most cases the establishment of protected areas has affected the rights,
interests and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and traditional peoples and
subsequently resulted in persistent conflict.
The
Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration to the World Parks Congress said, “Forced
expulsion and systematic exclusion of indigenous peoples from their lands and
territories for the creation of protected areas results in cultural genocide.”
The
affected communities called upon governments worldwide to prevent further
violation of their rights. They also want their governments to make them benefit
beyond the boundaries of national parks through sustainable utilisation of
resources from inside parks.
“The
call and efforts by the September 2003 World Parks Congress to allow communities
to benefit beyond boundaries is consistent with the objectives of the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD calls for equitable sharing of
benefits derived from the use of components of biodiversity,” said Dr. Cecil
Machena, the Executive Director of the Africa Resources Trust. “The question
of community benefits doesn’t matter whether it is from protected areas or
not. In fact communities should benefit more from national parks, because they
were forcibly displaced to make way for the establishment of parks. Why should
communities be prevented from running park-friendly lodges inside parks, when
the private sector is being allowed to do so?”
Communities
worldwide used the World Parks Congress as a strategic platform to fight for
rights to benefit beyond boundaries of national parks. Over 164 countries
worldwide ratified the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in 1994. The CBD
recognizes the rights for communities to benefit from natural resources.
However, lack of action by governments of affected people after big
international UN conferences and agreements such as the CBD, has begun making
communities doubt if these meetings really translate talk into action.
Adivasi
Protest Against ‘Nature Without People’
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"10 million indigenous people in India today face the threat of eviction."
Chekkottu Janu |
Ms.
Chekkottu Kariyan Janu from India, who was recently released from jail by the
Indian Government for having spearheaded the adivasi (indigenous people) in the
state of Kerale, India, said that for a long time, world governments have been
practising a policy of “Nature Without People”.
She
said that despite several international conventions and even the Indian Forest
Policy of 1988 that recognised the role of the indigenous people in conservation
and sustenance of forests, governments have not begun introducing policies that
cater for people’s interests and the need to conserve nature.
Ms.
Janu said, “Eviction and displacement had been the reality faced by the forest
people of India all through the colonial history. Even after the country gained
independence, the threat of eviction loomed large following the promulgation of
the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.”
“As
many as 10 million indigenous people in India today face the threat of eviction.
In the state of Assam, more than 100,000 people have already been evicted in
just three months between April and July 2002.”
African
Indigenous People Exposed to Extinction
African
communities also complained that the manner in which their governments are
managing parks and protected areas is violating their human rights.
They
called on African governments and other governments worldwide to end the
displacement of indigenous people when establishing or managing protected areas
and national parks.
The
African communities’ representatives attending the 5th World Parks Congress
said the disintegration of indigenous peoples and their communities “is one of
the negative impacts associated with the displacement of people to make way for
the creation of protected areas.”
Ahead
of the World Parks Congress, African indigenous community representatives of
Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Botswana, Namibia and Ethiopia met in Tanzania August 21,
2003 and issued the Arusha Declaration in protest against the continued
violation of rights of indigenous communities. The Arusha Declaration says,
“We are greatly concerned by the denial of social amenities, harassment and
subsequent displacement of the Bushmen from Central Kalahari Game Reserve by the
Botswana Government.”
The
Arusha Declaration also strongly condemns the displacement of Uganda’s Batwa
people from the Mbwindi and Mgahinga National Parks without compensation,
resulting in them “becoming landless and culturally and physically extinct.”
The
Arusha Declaration also condemns the deliberate and forceful eviction of
Tanzania’s Pastoral Maasai from Mnkomazi Game Reserve and the intended
eviction of the Maasai from Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Pastoral Maasai
were initially relocated from Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.
Truth
and Reconciliation
The
African, Asian and other indigenous communities from different parts of the
world later joined hands at 5th WPC in their fight for government policies that
should look at managing parks and protected areas with, and not without, the
people. They formed an Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus and called for the
establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indigenous People and
Protected Areas; as called for by Recommendation 5.2 of the 5th World Parks
Congress.
The
Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus proposed that the mandate for the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission would be to create an impartial historical record of
violations and abuses of indigenous peoples’ rights associated with the
creation of protected areas.
The
Commission aspires to respond to the needs of victims, promote healing and
reconciliation and prevent repetition of violations and abuses. It also proposes
to establish appropriate mechanisms for restitution and redress of grievances.
It was suggested that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission be established at
the UN Headquarters in New York, USA. It was also proposed that the Commission
should comprise members from diverse sectors including Nobel Laureates,
representatives of indigenous peoples, governments and principal conservation
agencies of the world.
The
Durban Accord endorsed the need to make communities benefit beyond park
boundaries. The recommendations will be further discussed at the 8th Meeting of
the UN Convention on Biodiversity to be held in Malaysia in February 2004.
World
Leaders in Agreement
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Key world leaders agreed that national parks must take into consideration the needs of the indigenous communities
Photo: IUCN/IISD |
The
tone and content of most presentations and discussions at the 5th WPC showed
that as long as protected areas and national parks remain islands of wealth
surrounded by hungry, angry and very poor communities, their existence and that
of their biodiversity will remain threatened.
Key
world leaders who included former President of South Africa and co-patron of the
World Parks Congress, Mr. Nelson Mandela, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan who
is also co-patron of the World Parks Congress and South African President Mr.
Thabo Mbeki said they “see no future for parks, unless they address the needs
of communities by taking communities as equal partners in the development of
national parks”.
Queen
Noor said, “If these areas (protected areas) are to survive and prosper in the
21st century, everyone involved must reach out and engage with partners beyond
boundaries.”
President
Mbeki said the existence of boundaries should not serve as a restriction on
human fulfilment.
Cycling
for Benefits Beyond Boundaries
Meanwhile,
three rural communities from Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe settled
around the recently established Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park that combines
the three countries’ Gonarezhou, Kruger and Limpopo National Parks into a
35,000 square kilometer transfrontier park, demonstrated their desire to benefit
beyond boundaries by engaging in an 855 kilometer Community Benefits Beyond
Boundaries Cycle Ride Campaign. The gruelling cycle ride campaign started from
Zimbabwe’s Chiredzi District, cutting across Mozambique’s Chiqualaquala
District and South Africa’s Limpopo Province up to Durban.
The
three Southern African rural communities were met at the 5th WPC by the IUCN
World Conservation Director General, Achim Steiner, who congratulated them for
having completed 855 kilometres in their Community Benefits Beyond Boundaries
Cycle Ride Campaign.
As
representatives of rural communities from Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe
cycle in the sweltering Southern African heat campaigning for benefits beyond
park boundaries, they interacted with fellow rural communities around the Great
Limpopo Transfrontier park, taking messages that fellow communities wanted to go
to decision makers at the 5th World Parks Congress.
One
of the most striking messages came from Mr. Gibson Maluleke of the Makuleke
Community from South Africa’s Limpopo Province.
He
said, “Park managers need to move from the old school of thought that subjects
communities without benefits. We want them to wear a ‘new school uniform’,
which allows communities to benefit beyond national park boundaries. Benefits
beyond boundaries can be achieved, as people from Makuleke are already
benefiting beyond the Boundaries of Kruger National Park, which is now part of
the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. ”
The
Makuleke Community began to benefit beyond the boundaries of Kruger National
Park when the South African Government under the Land Claims and Restitution
Act, allowed the Makulekes to build an upmarket park-friendly lodge inside
Kruger National Park on a piece of land where their ancestors were forcibly
removed in 1969 to make way for the establishment of Kruger National Park. Other
South African communities affected by the establishment of the parks are also
fighting for land claims in parks from where they were forcibly removed.
The
Makulekes’ benefits beyond boundaries’ precedent has given great hope to
many communities that are fighting for benefits beyond boundaries.
*Emmanuel
Koro is an environment and development communication
specialist based in Zimbabwe. He is also President of the Sub-Saharan Africa
Forum for Environment Communicators (SAFE), which aims to promote the
conservation and development views and interests of rural communities in the
media. Your emails to will be forwarded to him by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
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