2024-01-09 05:41:59
exclusive
The federal government wants to protect nature parks in the global south with a prestigious project. But research shows that partners in the initiative are probably committing human rights violations against indigenous people, while others appear to tolerate environmental destruction.
By Bastian Kaiser and Tobias Dammers
First came the shackles, then the beatings with belts, then the waterboarding. This is how the indigenous hunter Mingo Bernard describes an incident from 2021 that still upsets him today. Park rangers found him and three other men in the rainforest and tortured them, pushing them into the water of a river and simulating drowning. “The water was full of blood from my body. Like when you slaughter an animal,” says Bernard. One of his companions confirms the details.
Bernard’s home village is more than 5,600 kilometers from Berlin in the Republic of Congo. But he also blames German officials for the incident. “They are about to do bad things, maybe even kill,” he says.
With a natural heritage fund worth millions, the federal government actually wants to promote species protection and protect the climate. The Legacy Landscapes Fund is intended to sustainably finance and preserve important natural areas in developing and emerging countries. The Federal Development Ministry has already committed 182.5 million euros and has already invested some of it. 30 protected areas worldwide are to be supported in the long term.
Germany wants to be a role model
“Germany plays a key role in international biodiversity protection,” said Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) at a press conference. But research into two Legacy Landscapes Fund projects calls Germany’s flagship project into question. Indigenous people in Bolivia and the Republic of Congo criticize the fund and the federal government. The allegations extend to torture.
Mingo Bernard’s village of Badekok lies on the edge of the tropical Odzala-Kokoua rainforest, one of Africa’s oldest national parks. Armed park rangers roam the area to protect endangered species such as gorillas and forest elephants. They are trained and paid by the Legacy Landscapes Fund, among other things.
Hunter Mingo Bernard calls for an end to support for park rangers.
For Mingo Bernard, the park rangers are “bandits” and “bad people.” He shows his torn left ear. The rangers he blames for his injuries belong to the conservation organization African Parks Network. The reason the park rangers gave for the waterboarding torture was that Bernard and the others had penetrated too deeply into a forbidden, specially protected area of the park. The park is divided into different zones. Locals are actually allowed to use the edge zone to look for food.
African Parks does not comment on this specific case. However, the organization says it was recently made aware of “potential new allegations.” An external law firm was also commissioned to carry out the investigation. However, the allegations lack details. The “truthfulness remains unknown,” said African Parks.
Multiple reports of human rights violations
There are further reports of mistreatment by park rangers in the villages around Badekok in the Republic of Congo. A woman describes being raped. A banana planter shows scars on his back that are said to be from torture with flaming torches. Others tell of beatings, shackles, robbery and pillaging.
Upon request, the Development Ministry confirmed that it was aware of allegations of human rights violations. They were “substantiated in two cases in the course of the investigations”. African Parks responded to this with, among other things, “internal investigations”, “dismissals” and “human rights refresher training”. In addition, the cases were handed over to the Congolese judiciary. African Parks refers to a “zero tolerance approach” that it is pursuing. Despite our best efforts, “unfortunately abuse can occur,” the organization said.
The hunter Mingo Bernard still fears for his life if he goes too far into the rainforest again – even though his people, the indigenous Baka, have lived off the fruits and animals of the forest for generations. Because of the violence in African Parks, this is now hardly possible. “Germany should no longer finance the park rangers,” he demands.
One billion US dollars for species protection
The Federal Development Ministry launched the Legacy Landscapes Fund at the end of 2020. The reason: One million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Global biodiversity is declining dramatically; up to 150 plant and animal species are estimated to be extinct every day.
The fund now supports seven protected areas that are classified as particularly valuable. Each park receives $1 million per year. International nature conservation organizations such as African Parks take on the specific tasks on site – and are paid for this from the fund. In addition to the federal government, France, Norway and wealthy private donors are also participating.
Around one billion US dollars should be available by 2030. The then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also prominently campaigned for further participation in the lighthouse project. The money is managed by a non-profit foundation set up specifically for this purpose: the “International Natural Heritage Fund – Legacy Landscapes Fund” foundation.
Polluted rivers in Bolivia
The selected protected areas are in Africa, Asia and South America. One of them is the Madidi National Park in Bolivia. It is considered one of the most species-rich protected areas in the world. One study counted more than 300 species of fish in the park’s rivers. But fishermen like Oscar Lurici complain that there are fewer and fewer of them. The settlement of the indigenous community Ese Ejjas lies on the edge of the park. The Ese Ejjas live from fishing.
Gold mining with dredgers endangers Bolivia’s Madidi National Park.
The problem: Gold diggers are using dredgers to dig closer and closer to the heart of the Madidi. The park’s tributaries are contaminated with mercury – residues from mining. “We feel bad,” says Oscar Lurici. “We have muscle pain, headaches, dizziness and sometimes sudden loss of vision. So we are already feeling the effects of mercury pollution in our rivers because we consume a lot of fish.”
Money for dubious environmentalists
Bolivia is one of the few countries that allows the use of mercury in mining. Nevertheless, internal documents on the project in Bolivia show that 46.4 percent of the funding will flow to the Bolivian state via a detour. The recipient is the state nature conservation authority SERNAP. She should now help ensure that Germany’s environmental goals are implemented.
“Sometimes it makes things worse when the resources come, under these conditions,” says environmental and political scientist Marco Gandarillas. “It prolongs the agony of an institution that is not fulfilling its function.”
The Federal Development Ministry also calls for structural reforms in the Bolivian administration, but does not confirm that almost half of the funds go to the nature conservation authority. We are talking about only 15 percent that SERNAP received via a “sub-grant”.
Reprisals against critical park rangers
Local rangers also report that they cannot independently report illegal mining in the Madidi. Otherwise there would be a risk of reprisals – including from SERNAP, their own employer, the German partner. For example, a park ranger says he was forced to transfer after making critical comments about gold mining. SERNAP says that such an incident “should not happen again from now on.” It is actually SERNAP’s job to initiate criminal proceedings against illegal gold diggers in Madidi.
Alex Villca fears that German funds could strengthen the wrong institutions.
This authority is controlled by the interests of the mining sector, says Alex Villca, spokesman for the indigenous association CONTIOCAP: “It worries us that these resources are in the hands of institutions that have lost their mission, that have lost their direction.” He fears that German funds could strengthen institutions that have so far failed to protect nature.
SERNAP counters that the Bolivian government is firmly committed to environmental protection, but: “We had leaders and senior employees in the institutions who did not fulfill their tasks.” The Federal Development Ministry says that an “appropriate and sustainable improvement in the management of protected areas” can only be achieved in cooperation with state authorities. In Bolivia that is SERNAP.
Human rights risks were known in advance
Internal documents from the Federal Development Ministry show: Although the rights of indigenous groups are publicly emphasized, officials in the Development Ministry and at the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) apparently knew early on that human rights violations were likely in the project.
Even before the launch of the Legacy Landscapes Fund, there had been repeated internal warnings. The KfW assessed the general risks of the funding as “potentially high” and confidentially warned that “human rights risks could arise” for indigenous communities.
The EU has not yet taken part, although Germany has campaigned intensively for it. In an internal email, German officials noted: “Due to the human rights problem in the protected areas, the EU Commission (EU Commission, editor’s note) is also sensitized.”
Profiteers were involved in an internal audit study
Nevertheless, the ministry and KfW are sticking to the plans. But officials want to protect themselves. Before funding a protected area, KfW requires an independent study that examines the human rights situation on site.
However, internal correspondence shows that local partner NGOs in various countries were closely involved in the preparation of the studies – including employees of African Parks in the Republic of Congo, the organization that is now accused of torture.
The Federal Development Ministry confirms African Parks’ participation in the study, but does not believe its significance is affected. According to African Parks, only the logistics of the study were supported.
According to the ministry, “numerous measures have already been successfully implemented” with the Legacy Landscapes Fund: In the Republic of Congo, for example, 2,200 children take part in environmental training every year. In Bolivia, the production of shade coffee and vicuña wool was promoted.
At the United Nations in New York, Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently announced that Germany would provide a total of 1.5 billion euros annually for international biodiversity protection from 2025. Development Minister Svenja Schulze said: “Ambitious nature conservation is also smart development policy.”
This research was supported by a grant from journalismfund.eu.
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