Saving the Congo Basin

Saving the Congo Basin
Author: United States House of Representatives
Publisher:
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2020-02-17
Genre:
ISBN:

Saving the Congo Basin: the stakes, the plan: hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, March 11, 2003.

Saving the Congo Basin

Saving the Congo Basin
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on Africa
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Saving the Congo Basin

Saving the Congo Basin
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on Africa
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

hearing

hearing
Author: government printing office
Publisher:
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2003
Genre:
ISBN:

Fortress Conservation and International Accountability for Human Rights Violations against Batwa in Kahuzi-Biega National Park

Fortress Conservation and International Accountability for Human Rights Violations against Batwa in Kahuzi-Biega National Park
Author: Colin Luoma
Publisher: Minority Rights Group
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2022-05-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1912938502

The Kahuzi-Biega National Park (‘PNKB’) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo presents an existential threat to the indigenous Batwa people. For millennia, Batwa occupied the forests surrounding Mount Kahuzi and Mount Biega, utilizing traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable practices to foster one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. The creation of the PNKB in the 1970s forced Batwa from their ancestral lands, rendering them deeply impoverished, landless, dependent and culturally disconnected. When they seek to return home and access their lands and resources, they are subjected to extreme violence by park authorities who treat them as trespassers, poachers and enemies of conservation. This report situates the serious human rights violations suffered by Batwa in the PNKB within the broader global phenomenon of ‘fortress conservation’ and analyses the respective roles and accountability of the park’s core international partners. Ongoing violence against Batwa in the PNKB is a stark reminder of the immense human and environmental costs associated with pursuing conservation policies that prevent indigenous peoples from owning, governing, accessing and benefiting from their territories and resources. These policies are bolstered by donors, global NGOs and international organizations which enable and tacitly uphold a violent and anti-indigenous status quo in the PNKB and other protected areas. Donors, conservation organizations and other international partners of the PNKB have failed to adequately ensure that their support did not contribute to human rights violations committed against Batwa. These international partners had explicit knowledge of unresolved human rights abuses committed by ecoguards, as well as threats of imminent violence against Batwa communities living inside the park. Yet, they continued to equip, fund and train ecoguards and actively promoted the increasing militarization of the PNKB. This militarization has resulted in overly aggressive policing and military-style actions by ecoguards (often jointly with the Congolese Army) who explicitly target, criminalize and brutalize Batwa. At the same time, the park consistently fails to meet environmental expectations and objectives. Thus, the PNKB represents a clear case of how fortress conservation fails both people and the environment. Regrettably, it is not an isolated example of flawed conservation policy. Instead, it is indicative of the institutional shortcomings and systemic failures inherent in the dominant ways in which conservation is pursued by states and promoted by international conservation actors in the Congo Basin and in other parts of the world.

Congressional Record

Congressional Record
Author: United States. Congress
Publisher:
Total Pages: 728
Release: 2003
Genre: Law
ISBN:

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)