African countries are seeking to set ambitious targets for the protection and conservation of nature in view of the COP15 on biodiversity scheduled for December in Montreal. However, experts and human rights defenders warn against the multiplication of environmental protection efforts to the detriment of populations who already occupy the territory.
More than 2,000 representatives of governments, local populations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Africa are gathered in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, until Saturday for the first Pan-African Congress on Biodiversity.
“Protected areas are essential to the survival of the planet,” said Bruno Oberle, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which organizes this African Protected Areas Congress (APAC). According to a report by the United Nations Development Programme, Africa is home to a quarter of the world’s biodiversity.
One of the objectives of the international community is to increase the number of protected areas and their surface area. A broad coalition of countries voted in June to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030; proposal which will be debated during COP15 in Montreal.
“The surface area of protected areas in Africa is shrinking,” says Joël Awouhidia Korahiré, who was director of the coordination of international conventions at the Ministry of the Environment of Burkina Faso. This researcher has also defended a doctoral thesis on a protected area in his country of origin.
He fears that the current increase in climate refugees will harm the integrity of the territories to be protected and the protection of biodiversity: “Protected areas are among the best agricultural lands, and more and more groups of which we cannot control movements want to use it. »
“Green Colonialism”
In Africa and elsewhere, the legitimate objective of protecting the biodiversity of certain areas gives rise to conflicts with those who occupy the territory, recalls Joël Awouhidia Korahiré. Some authors even speak of “green colonialism”, since it is often international NGOs which, with the support of the governments in place, take all means to fulfill their environmental objectives without taking the populations into account.
Many examples have been identified on the continent. Most recently, in June, in an attempt by the Tanzanian government to evict tens of thousands of Maasai — a semi-nomadic herding people present in Kenya and Tanzania — from the World Heritage-listed Ngorongoro Crater region of UNESCO, violent clashes caused the death of a policeman and at least ten injured by gunshot on the Maasai side. The evictions must in particular allow the construction of private reserves and tourist complexes.
“Respect for human rights is the basis on which initiatives to protect the environment must be based,” says Colette Lelièvre, campaign manager for Amnesty International Canada Francophone.
She explains that the rights of indigenous peoples around the world, “both in Canada and in Africa”, are guaranteed by international charters, but that “often”, the justice systems prove to be “failing”.
Ancestral know-how
According to Joël Awouhidia Korahiré, most of the people who live around and depend on protected areas in Africa do not pose “considerable risks”. Rather, he laments the threats these people face and the “insufficient” laws to protect them.
The researcher also criticizes the economic context which leads certain populations towards illegal activities harmful to the environment: “When people realize that people from outside want to protect their territory, when they see people arriving on safari, they understand the value of wildlife, and this can lead to poaching. Poachers, as well as some people mistaken for poachers, are often violently controlled.
It is in this context that the IUCN Congress brings together for the first time such a large number of NGOs and members of local communities, in order to respect their rights and their knowledge. “Indigenous peoples are the first conservationists,” says an ACPA statement.
“When you involve people in the management of protected areas, they apply their know-how which has been passed down for generations,” concludes Joël Awouhidia Korahiré. He remains optimistic, hailing an increase in “participatory management” with communities on the continent.
With Agence France-Presse