"Green colonialism" - How nature conservation harms indigenous peoples | DW Documentary

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:09]straight ahead. That's a group of male water backs.

[00:00:15]So, let's keep noise to a minimum so that we can come more closer to them.

[00:00:20]Look at the buffers up there.

[00:00:25]Look. Ooh, the big one.

[00:00:31]In the heart of the African Great Lakes region, Rwanda is counting on luxury safaris to boost economic development.

[00:00:42]The park entry fee for international guests is $100.

[00:00:47]Leisure activities and luxury hotels cost extra. Since 2010, a South African-based NGO has been operating the Akagera National Park. Critics accuse the African Parks NGO of adopting a commercialized and militarized conservation model. In Africa, the Akagera National Park is now held up as a model for the marketing of nature. In the eyes of Rwanda's development authorities, it's an economic success story.

[00:01:14]>> In 2010, we were generating not more than $200,000.

[00:01:21]Today uh the park is generating close to5 million US dollars >> in the name of conserving animal and plant life. African parks World Wildlife Fund or WWF and many other organizations have adopted similar strategies.

[00:01:37]But behind their success, there's a reality that most tourists never see.

[00:01:41]Indigenous peoples who've lived on this land for centuries have been forced to leave. Driven out of the forests of the Congo or the plains of Kenya, the local indigenous population is often forced to stay outside park gates as they watch the visitors pass through.

[00:01:58]>> It's very sad really. They take a photo and just go. They pay to see those animals and they don't pay us.

[00:02:06]>> Given these conflicts of interest, activists and human rights organizations decry what they view as a fortress conservation model. This Kenyan conservationist calls it a form of green colonialism.

[00:02:19]>> The most effective land grabbing tool in Africa is a rhino. You will go and put it in some place and you'll get a license to fence that land. You'll get a license for firearms to shoot anybody who comes close to that land. And you will also get funding to maintain your control of that land.

[00:02:42]But animal conservation isn't the only environmental policy driving out local communities.

[00:02:48]Carbon credits worth millions are generated with this ecosystem.

[00:02:54]Our research points towards a nature management strategy where money is the true king of the animal kingdom.

[00:03:08]For years, rhinos were hunted for their horns. Today, there are only around 6,800 black rhinos in all of Africa. In Rwanda, the animals all but disappeared during the early 2000s. But African Parks has released 18 black rhinos and 30 white rhinos from South Africa into the Akagera National Park. Plus, five more animals were brought here from various European zoos. These rangers spend their days protecting the rhinos.

[00:03:40]These are browsing marks of black rhinos. This is where black rhinos have been feeding on. It looks like it's a machet who cut this tree. They moving toward to the top there.

[00:03:55]>> Every rhino can be located using a mini tracking device. Together with lions, elephants, buffaloos, and leopards, rhinos belong to the famous big five. The tourists flock here to see them.

[00:04:13]>> Those are rhinos.

[00:04:15]They are up there.

[00:04:18]Can you see them?

[00:04:21]>> African parks and the Rwanda authorities are proud the rhinos are back again. In 2025, they brought 70 more white rhinos into the country.

[00:04:31]>> We put much effort in protecting the habitat uh not only the habitat of rhino but also a whole park just to to to ensure there is no no wire sners.

[00:04:47]There's no pers to set those wires.

[00:04:51]In addition to the armed guards on patrol, the entire reserve is protected by an electric fence.

[00:04:59]Since African parks took over, Akagera National Park has become a huge fortress.

[00:05:07]>> Hello, Peter.

[00:05:08]>> Hello. Hi, Peter.

[00:05:12]>> A guard needs a delivery of wood.

[00:05:16]This fortress is also equipped with motion sensor cameras that can detect the movements of animals and people.

[00:05:23]Together with the Rwanda authorities, African Parks takes forceful measures against poachers and intruders.

[00:05:29]>> This came yesterday, a rhino with hakov.

[00:05:35]We also have this. So, this is an intruder.

[00:05:38]It was at 5 um 5:00 a.m.

[00:05:43]Usually what we do with this kind of picture, we just save it for future references. If he was like maybe caught, it can be used as a an evidence.

[00:05:56]>> That's as long as you step in the park. If you're not a tourist or a staff, you are a portrait. I was educated. There's a barrier. If I go beyond that barrier, I am already committing crime.

[00:06:13]>> In Rwanda, poachers can be sentenced to several years of jail time, up to 20 years in severe cases. Their traps and weapons are seized and displayed like trophies in a kind of poaching museum.

[00:06:26]After working in other parks, Lisla Nahway returned to Akagera in 2013.

[00:06:34]There are some nice spears over there.

[00:06:39]>> That same year, the park switched on its electric boundary fence. For the now manager, that launched a merciless war on hunting and fishing.

[00:06:50]>> These are all the things we've taken out of the park in the last 10 years.

[00:06:55]Wire snares, motorcycles, bikes, boats.

[00:06:58]We've collected them all.

[00:07:01]The level of poaching in the park has changed.

[00:07:04]>> There's very little poaching now.

[00:07:08]>> This aggressive form of conservation has arisen in an authoritarian state. Paul Kagami has effectively ruled Rwanda since 1994.

[00:07:17]In the framework of a long-term partnership, the Rwanda government transferred the management of Akagera to African Parks, an NGO that organizes and finances nature reserves like businesses.

[00:07:35]In 2024, around 56,000 visitors flock to Akagera. With a staff of over 300, the park manager hopes to start turning a profit soon.

[00:07:48]We all sit down together to try to see how we can reach that goal.

[00:07:53]Money is key to everything. So we really have to do our calculations well to reach our goal by the end of the year and the goal is to become completely sustainable, self-supporting.

[00:08:06]It's a unique model. I think I've been involved in conservation for close to 30 years like I told you before and this is the only place I've seen it work.

[00:08:20]Meanwhile, Rwanda has also granted the NGO the authority to manage a second park in the west of the country, the Nyung Forest National Park.

[00:08:32]This tropical rainforest is home to a variety of primates, including black and white colibus monkeys and chimpanzees.

[00:08:41]All are threatened by poaching and illegal mining.

[00:08:49]African Parks is taking the same approach here as at Akagera. Charge a hefty entry fee, add tourist attractions, and patrol them with armed guards.

[00:09:03]It's impossible to fence the entire forest, but people here too must make way for the park.

[00:09:10]These men, mainly former small game hunters, are charged with maintaining law and order at African parks. For training purposes, they are playing the role of poachers.

[00:09:22]Go on, set up the traps here. Hurry before the rangers show up.

[00:09:34]Stop. Don't move.

[00:09:37]Grab them and hold them tight.

[00:09:41]>> Hello, boss. We just caught two poachers.

[00:09:47]>> They have traps with them.

[00:09:55]The rangers pay is low, but there are few alternative sources of income in this remote region.

[00:10:06]We have to make arrests quite often. The last time was on the 28th of last month.

[00:10:20]After my arrest, I was convicted. I promised that I would never set foot in the park again. I was sentenced to and served 6 months in jail. 7 months after my release, the Eco Rangers were recruiting people.

[00:10:35]I applied and they took me.

[00:10:45]>> A change of scenery. We're in the Republic of the Congo. And this time, not in a park, but on the outskirts.

[00:10:54]In the north of the country, there are just a few paved roads, and they're largely used for timber exports.

[00:11:05]We're accompanied by Rufen Makoszi, a Baka activist who works together with Survival International. For decades, this NGO has documented violations of the rights of the Baka, indigenous hunters and gatherers that have traditionally lived in the forest.

[00:11:22]But the Baka have been driven out of the forests and wildlife reserves. Today, many live by the roadsides.

[00:11:29]Here, people are critical of African parks and the WWF.

[00:11:38]We meet a man who tells us that he was tortured in the forest.

[00:11:44]>> Go boo.

[00:11:52]This Baka man says that 5 years ago, rangers ambushed him when he was collecting wild forest honey for his children.

[00:12:02]I climbed up a tree and from up above I saw that eco rangers in military uniforms were with my family.

[00:12:12]They arrested and mistreated me. They said that was forbidden, that it's poaching.

[00:12:18]Then they held me down on the ground and whipped me. They undressed me and let wax from a burning candle drip onto my back. Yet I did nothing. All I did was gather honey.

[00:12:29]There was nothing to confess to, but they didn't believe me.

[00:12:40]Along the roadside, people tell us about arbitrary arrests and expulsions carried out by eco rangers or the police.

[00:12:54]>> They came and said our houses were filthy and scattered all over the place and they burned them all down to make sure that we native peoples all keep living in villages with new homes.

[00:13:09]The claims about expulsions are confirmed by this young Baka Ranger. He wishes to remain anonymous since his work is financed by the WWF.

[00:13:19]Along with the violence, he condemns the ethnic stereotyping, especially by park rangers who belong to the predominant ethnic group, the Bantau.

[00:13:29]They tortured folks, beat them.

[00:13:32]>> They even burned down the destroyed camp.

[00:13:36]What were their methods?

[00:13:39]They employed torture and threats.

[00:13:43]That meant if they caught you with cash, they'd take it. I thought that them torturing Baka was not good.

[00:13:53]Another human being. How can you torture them? That shocked me to my core.

[00:14:02]He says those rangers were later let go.

[00:14:05]Because of this and other human rights violations, the European Union suspended its funding of the WWF project in this region in 2019.

[00:14:16]Today, the violence has subsided. Yet, the forest remains a no-go area for the baka.

[00:14:24]The authorities now issue licenses to hunt small game, but they're costly and are out of reach for many baka. Those who can afford them are mainly more affluent banttos like these men on a motorbike. We've signaled for them to stop.

[00:14:41]>> To them, we're potential buyers. The hunters show off the prey they caught earlier in the day.

[00:14:49]What's that?

[00:14:51]>> A monkey.

[00:14:53]Hunting monkeys is allowed.

[00:14:55]>> Yeah, that's permitted.

[00:14:58]>> Do you go hunting often?

[00:15:00]>> There are no jobs. We live from this.

[00:15:06]>> In contrast, most Baka have no income.

[00:15:09]In the villages, they're treated like secondass citizens and must witness how their traditions are dying out.

[00:15:15]>> These are all my children and grandchildren.

[00:15:18]At almost 60 years of age, dot Beu Armal mourns the fact that the younger generation no longer recognizes many animal species, kinds of fruit, or medicinal plants as they can't go into the forest with their parents.

[00:15:34]When you set the traps, at least you see the animals. When you shoot wild game, you see them.

[00:15:42]If no one takes you into the forest, what can you recognize?

[00:15:48]Why do you want to go into the woods?

[00:15:52]>> To eat yams >> to gather nuts.

[00:16:03]>> If we're still alive and they let us into the forest, that knowledge won't be lost >> because the children are here and we'll teach them everything.

[00:16:13]We'll say, "Look at that. It heals you.

[00:16:16]Look at that. It does this. Look at this. It does that.

[00:16:22]>> But if the forest is blocked off, how will they learn these things?

[00:16:27]We can talk about them, but they have to see them with their own eyes. Have to experience them.

[00:16:35]>> It's like it is for you in France. This is our city. and were no longer living in the forest.

[00:16:45]Throughout Africa, many indigenous peoples are in similar situations. The poorest populations are among those with the smallest carbon footprints. Yet, they of all people are being told to give up their traditional way of life.

[00:17:07]Morai Oada is a Kenyan ecologist who has taught in the US. He accuses the West of only ever seeing indigenous peoples as a threat to the natural environment.

[00:17:21]With all due respect to all my American friends and colleagues, I will not take environmental guidance from an American because they finished the bison and they finished the passenger pigeon. We still have elephants. There is no African wildlife species that's more important than African people. We must we must have that principle. And then we must recognize the role of African people in conserving their wildlife. So we must learn from local communities and and um add value or improve what they're doing wherever we can.

[00:18:00]But we should not come and take land away and say we are teaching them about conservation.

[00:18:15]But that is exactly what is happening in northern Kenya. Here livestock breeders from the Masai Samburu and Borana peoples have long grazed their herds on land also inhabited by wild animals.

[00:18:28]Since 2010, an NGO called the Northern Rangelands Trust or NRT has been marketing carbon credits.

[00:18:36]NRT has sold them to big companies like Netflix and British Airways who use them to offset their carbon emissions.

[00:18:45]Critics say this enables corporations to just keep emitting CO2 instead of reducing emissions.

[00:18:52]At this pilot conserancy, an NRT representative now determines the herd's migration routes.

[00:19:00]So, we are actually at end of the dry season, but um normally it could have been raining by now like the you could have you could have seen the ground the green grass sprouting by now.

[00:19:19]This is a really um bare grounds and you can see this is hard soil. So you can see it's already already creating a hard cup and nothing grows down there.

[00:19:35]It's Alex Lakeali's job to protect grass species that will regenerate with the first rains and then capture carbon.

[00:19:45]This one it's more softer. We call it Lana.

[00:19:49]Yeah. And then we have this one is kind of grace. But this is the other one.

[00:19:55]It's called Lunoro. I think gravies definitely must have grace on it. So these are the two species that um kettles really like them. The the soft one and and this one.

[00:20:13]Every two months, the Samuru herders drive their cattle to new pastures.

[00:20:23]>> Hello everyone.

[00:20:24]>> How are things?

[00:20:27]>> Behind this seemingly fair approach is the same fight for land. On paper, NRT owns nothing. Yet, the leaders of 14 indigenous communities have handed over the administration of their herds and land to the NGO.

[00:20:42]In return, NRT uses the carbon credits to supply them with water and medicine for their cattle. For the herders, the deal is rather abstract. It doesn't help that when talking about CO2, the words for carbon and wind sound similar in their language.

[00:21:01]>> What do you know about CO2?

[00:21:04]Well, we know that the wind comes from the earth, but I'm not really sure about the difference between normal wind and what comes from the earth. I don't know exactly what that is, but it brings money. I don't know where this wind comes from, and we don't know who it's being sold to. For us, the wind is simply blowing air.

[00:21:26]At first, we couldn't believe it. How can you sell the wind?

[00:21:32]Their traditions have been traded away for money. In 2022, NRT said its sale of carbon credits had generated 14.6 million US for local conservies.

[00:21:51]They claim to be a nonprofit organization. Yet, NRT now controls at least 43 community conservies comprising around 10% of Kenya's land mass.

[00:22:03]and they sell everything from handbags to luxury safaris. We wanted to meet NRT's carbon project director at the yearly Masai Culture Festival.

[00:22:13]Kenya's President William RTO even came specially for the event. Decked out in the nomadic herders traditional dress, he even joins in the dancing for a bit.

[00:22:27]Environmental protection and safaris are a lucrative business here.

[00:22:31]Every conservancy protects its own species. NRT is represented by a large stand at the festival. Representatives from the world of science, politics, and business sit on its board of directors.

[00:22:46]NRT calls its carbon project the world's largest soil carbon removal project to date. you guys know what's up with them.

[00:22:55]>> NRT works through the conservancies and so we bring back the traditional way of rangeand management but combining with scientifically proven practices that act community members are part of that development process. Therefore, we are bringing back more grasses, reducing bare areas. We are bringing back, you know, life that pastoralist aspire to to to get, you know, for a decent uh living.

[00:23:30]>> On paper, NRT appears to be a resounding success, >> but more and more doubts are being raised.

[00:23:45]At the end of this road, a 10-hour drive from Nairobi, resistance is growing.

[00:23:53]>> Bring me the cuff.

[00:23:55]Let's go.

[00:23:57]These Barana cattle herders accuse NRT of robbing them of their grazing rights for the founding of new conservancies in 2021.

[00:24:08]Hussein Jatani Ali says the NGO turned communities against one another for its own gain.

[00:24:17]>> Our forefathers were born here and we've always been able to move around freely.

[00:24:22]In my father's day, there were no problems. The people in the conservancy have taken away our land in favor of other tribes, and that's led to conflicts.

[00:24:33]These communities stole our cattle.

[00:24:37]We were afraid and came over here. But here there are too many animals. There's not enough space and not enough grass either. That's why we've taken legal action. We're waiting to see what comes of it.

[00:24:58]In 2021, Hussein Jatani Ali and 164 other representatives of this Muslim community took NRT to court. With their lawyers from the capital, the plaintiffs demanded the abolition of the conservies and the return of their land.

[00:25:18]We don't want them here anymore.

[00:25:21]Since they've arrived, they've only brought misfortune to our community, the Borana.

[00:25:26]If they would just go and leave us in peace, I'd be happy.

[00:25:33]>> According to their traditions, these semi-nomatic tribes in Kenya own the land collectively, not individually.

[00:25:42]Here's the list of the lands they want to keep.

[00:25:48]It would be better to divide them up amongst ourselves.

[00:25:53]>> To create new conservies, NRT needed the signature of all the tribal chiefs. But these men say the NGO unlawfully acquired its land titles with the help of straw men.

[00:26:06]With so many names, it's easy to lose track.

[00:26:12]The signatorries were bought.

[00:26:16]They were given a bit of money to sign their names.

[00:26:31]We're afraid that they'll come after us.

[00:26:33]They've already sent the police to us as well as the regional and local administrations.

[00:26:39]They have connections to the chiefs.

[00:26:43]They're using their contacts in all of the administrations while we the people can barely make ourselves heard.

[00:26:59]>> One of these conservancies is called Cherub. At its founding, the French Development Agency, AFD, helped to finance the hiring of rangers as well as the purchase of vehicles.

[00:27:12]In Nairobi, the AY's director and her Kenyan colleague defend their decision.

[00:27:18]In France and the rest of the EU, carbon credits are part of the block's climate strategy, even though they only supplement direct emissions reduction efforts.

[00:27:28]>> It's important that the courts and the pro uh the judicial processes are well followed and implemented according to the laws of Kenya. on AFD side what we look at is the participation of the local communities and the concerns uh that they may have and how these are managed by uh NRT.

[00:27:48]>> So for the moment you are happy with the way that uh NRT has been dealing with these issues. Yes, NRT has uh conducted several uh uh meetings with local communities usually before starting projects and it doesn't mean that there are low challenges.

[00:28:07]>> A few weeks after this interview, Kenya's high court ruled that the establishment of the two conservies including Cherub was unconstitutional and that all structures there must be torn down.

[00:28:21]Although NRT has appealed the decision, this is a first and perhaps precedent setting victory for nomadic peoples in Kenya >> and across Africa. It provides hope that environmental protection and human rights really can go hand in hand.