The XR Youth Solidarity group, together with activists from WTF WWF, targeted WWF UK headquarters last month. The Guardian reported that they went there to express solidarity with indigenous groups across Africa who they say have been evicted and persecuted through WWF’s conservation activities. The group said:
"WTF WWF are occupying on behalf of indigenous Maasai communities living in Ngorongoro conservation area in Tanzania, Gbabandi, Cameroon’s Forest Indigenous Peoples’ Platform and the Sengwer indigenous people of Kenya. WTF WWF is demanding that WWF UK challenge the mass evictions and human rights abuses being carried out in the pursuit of conservation against these indigenous groups.”
How humiliating for WWF which, although it paints itself as a wildlife champion (adopt a panda / whale / elephant / etc), actually spends a lot of time (and donors' money) helping people; and rightly so. Such conservation v. human need conflicts are not new, and they will likely increase as the grip of climate change on our lives increases.
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