A short film from the Rainforest Foundation UK about forest communities affected by the Tumba Lediima Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shows how the communities living in the area established for the Reserved were, and still are, completely ignored. The Reserve was established in 2006 by the DRC government in collaboration with the WWF, which hired “eco guards” from ICCN, the Congolese nature conservation agency. Local communities have their farming and hunting practices curtailed so severely that there has been a significant rise in malnutrition. On top of this, local communities are confronting various human rights abuses. As a community representative of one affected village says in the video, “When they patrolled, they searched our camps. They tortured people. They raped the women”. After 10 years since the creation of the Reserve, it is clear that the violence must stop.
See the video here:
The video accompanies the report from the same organization “Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: failing both people and biodiversity?” Of the 34 protected areas included in the study: 26 have reported some form of displacement of local people (with a possible additional six areas for which there was no data available); 21 have reported conflicts between park management and local communities, including severe human rights violations (with a possible additional ten areas for which there was no data available); 18 have reported no consultation with local people prior to creation (with a possible additional four areas for which there was no data available).
See report at: http://blog.mappingforrights.org/wp-content/uploads/38342-Rainforest-Foundation-Conservation-Study-Web-ready.pdf
