Open letter to WWF on serious human rights abuses associated with conservation activities

FPP and signatory organisations from around the world have sent an open letter to WWF International, calling for thorough, fair and transparent investigations into serious allegations of abuses in WWF projects in Cameroon, Nepal, India and elsewhere.

The letter calls for a re-thinking of the approach to conservation, for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to be respected and protected, and for indigenous peoples to have their role in managing their own territories and lands acknowledged and supported.

Signatory organisations include:

• Forest Peoples Programme (UK)

• International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (Denmark)

• Well Grounded (UK)

• Almáciga (Spain)

• Natural Justice (Global)

• Lawyers Association for Human Rights for Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) (Nepal)

• Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) (Asia regional)

• Cheptikale Indigenous Peoples Development Project (CIDPD) (Kenya)

• Sengwer Indigenous Peoples Programme (SIPP) (Kenya)

• Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) (Peru)

• Association Okani (Cameroon)

• Réseau des Populations Autochtones et Locales pour la Gestion des Ecosystèmes Forestiers d'Afrique Centrale (in English: Network of Indigenous and Local Communities for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa) (REPALEAC)

• United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) (Uganda)

• New Wind Association (Finland)

• Emmaus Aurinkotehdas Ry (Finland)

------------

Photo: Richard Cawood