Ending fortress conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

A new report from the Oakland Institute documents the abuses of the conservation industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has 41 protected areas, covering a total of more than 32.4 million hectares, or approximately 14% of the area of the country. Meanwhile, the conservation industry in the country is responsible for appalling human rights abuses, including evictions, beatings, torture, rape, and murder.

A new report by the Oakland Institute looks in detail at the conservation industry’s record in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Oakland Institute found that in addition to the abuse of Indigenous Peoples, the conservation industry has deep ties to the extraction of minerals and other resources.

In a statement, Frédéric Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute, says,

“Removing Indigenous communities from lands earmarked as a protected area has created a political vacuum filled by outside commercial actors seeking to exploit the DRC’s natural resources. This conservation model negatively harms both biodiversity and people, while contributing to the ongoing political instability in the region.”

The report, which is titled, “From Abuse to Power: Ending Fortress Conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” details how security forces and ecoguards, along with international conservation organisations such as WWF and Wildlife Conservation Society are “responsible for horrendous violence and atrocities committed against Indigenous communities”.

Kahuzi-Biega National Park

In 2022, Minority Rights Group published a report that documents a three-year campaign of violent forced evictions and human rights abuses against the Indigenous Batwa in Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

Ecoguards and soldiers mounted a military campaign against the Batwa resulting in horrific abuses: Torture, murder, gang rape, shelling of villages, burning children alive, decapitation, and the taking of body parts as trophies.

Despite the funding from the US government and the German government for equipment and training, security forces and ecoguards enjoy impunity for these crimes.

In 2015, Minority Rights Group and Environnement, Ressources Naturelles et Developpemennt filed a case with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

In July 2024, the African Commission recognised the Batwa’s rights to their land and ordered the DRC government to allow them to return to their ancestral territories inside Kahuzi-Biega National Park. In addition, the government should compensate the Batwa and ensure that their rights are upheld.

Samuel Ade Ndasi of the Minority Rights Group says,

“This is a huge win. The decision sets a strong precedent that recognizes the value of Indigenous traditional knowledge and environmental and biodiversity conservation practices. From this point forward, no Indigenous community should be evicted in the name of conservation anywhere in Africa.”

The ruling states that, “The conservation model used in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park has failed, by excluding the Batwa as custodians of the forest.”

A new paradigm is needed

The Oakland Institute’s report, however, makes clear that actually implementing the African Commission’s decision requires a complete change of course by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the conservation industry, and Western governments that fund this model of fortress conservation.

The Oakland Institute argues for a “new paradigm that respects and protects both people and biodiversity”. Currently though, large conservation organisations receive 85% of global conservation funding. Indigenous Peoples and local communities receive just 1%.

Frédéric Mousseau comments that,

“Such an institutional paradigm shift is paramount. Conservation goals, however, will not be reached without addressing illegal extraction of resources in Eastern DRC, which involves the country’s neighbors, as well as their business partners and financers. The US government finances environmental protection in DRC whereas it also supports the countries behind the violence and the looting of natural resources, notably in the parks. This unconditional, schizophrenic, support must end in order to protect both Indigenous communities and the country’s biodiversity.”

Western governments and large conservation organisations employ what the Oakland Institute describes as “an approach of willful blindness towards the depredations of the Congolese security forces and other armed groups, among whom corruption, extortion, racketeering, and illicit extraction have become pervasive over the last few decades”.

A shift away from fortress conservation is even more urgent in the light of commitments to 30x30, under which 30% of the Earth’s surface would be placed under some form of protection by 2030. This could result in the biggest land grab in history.

Mineral extraction from protected areas

Conservation based on creating wilderness areas free of people results in protected areas that are “unprotected and left open to resource extraction”, the Oakland Institute writes.

By removing the protective shield of human presence on lands earmarked as a PA, the political vacuum gets filled by outside commercial actors seeking to exploit its natural resources. Violence is used by militias and state security forces to keep locals off the land and allow the illicit extraction of natural resources to proceed unhindered.

The Oakland Institute notes that violence and corruption in protected areas is linked to the extraction of minerals such as gold, tantalum, and cobalt. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the world’s largest producer of both cobalt and tantalum, which are used in electronic devices, aerospace and military technologies, advanced electronic systems, and renewable energy.

This involves the Democratic Republic of Congo’s neighbours such as Rwanda and Uganda. Both countries have long been involved in the illegal extraction of minerals in eastern DRC.

Effective regulation of the trade in conflict minerals is urgently needed. The Oakland Institute writes that,

This is especially essential as fighting in eastern DRC remains intense, involving the DRC military, Rwanda-backed rebel group Movement March 23 (M23) and other armed groups, while the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in the country is coming to an end in 2024. As long as DRC’s neighbors are allowed to engage in destabilizing activities and lead the illegal exploitation of mineral resources, there will be no space for conservation efforts to evolve into a different model respecting the basic rights to life and dignity of Indigenous and local communities.

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