A landmark bill to stop US taxpayer money from financing human rights abuses in the name of conservation is languishing in Congress. Although it passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support in July 2022, it stalled in the Senate and now has to start all over again in the House Committee on Natural Resources.
At present, much of the $700-800 million of US funds spent every year on international biodiversity conservation goes towards “fortress conservation,” which evicts and excludes Indigenous and local people from their ancestral lands, and employs guards who have perpetrated appalling abuses.
Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the natural world, but large conservation organizations like WWF and WCS have used millions of US taxpayers’ dollars to support parks where rangers have killed, raped and tortured local people.
This is not what conservation should look like.
The “Advancing Human Rights-Centered International Conservation Act,” establishes two ground-breaking principles for conservation funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
1. USFWS funding of conservation projects must no longer be used to finance gross human rights abuses.
2. Conservation projects must have the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous people for new or expanded National Parks or other ‘Protected Areas’ on their land, in order to receive USFWS funding.
Passing this legislation is a crucial step in stopping US-funded human rights abuses.
Tell Congress to stop funding human rights abuses in international conservation projects
Your email will be sent to:
The House Committee on Natural Resources
The House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries
