Panels hear pleas for Indigenous leadership in conservation

October 26, 2021

In a pair of House hearings yesterday, advocates and some lawmakers said Indigenous populations should have greater control of conservation efforts and forest management — both in the United States and abroad.

A hearing of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife examined how the United States' funding of traditional, international nature reserves may be doing severe harm to local and Indigenous populations.

Specifically, the subcommittee discussed actions taken by the World Wildlife Fund. A 2019 BuzzFeed News report alleged that the organization was funding park rangers at several African nature preserves who had murdered, raped and abused local populations.

Witnesses at the hearing suggested that the alleged mismanagement by WWF may signal a systemic problem regarding conservation organizations and the Indigenous populations they interact with.

"Many conservation organizations are very good at expressing support for Indigenous peoples, but have fallen short in respecting their human rights and practices," said Henry Lauerman, a Wake Forest University law professor, told the panel. "I believe that organizations like WWF will not change their behavior until the United States and other donor governments force them to do so."

Lawmakers from both parties expressed disappointment in WWF's actions, saying the organization didn't do enough to change its operations after investigating the report.

Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation at WWF, conceded that the organization made critical mistakes with regards to the human rights abuses by rangers, but insisted that the organization continues to take steps to adopt the recommendations made by an independent panel created by WWF. The panel recommended increasing Indigenous representation in leadership positions at the organization and developing better training for rangers at reserves.

But lawmakers remained skeptical.

"To our knowledge, not a single person in the leadership at WWF has lost their jobs or resigned over any of these incidents," said subcommittee Chair Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). "That includes the people the panel found to have received allegations of human rights abuse and chose not to act on them."

Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) suggested that the instances of human right abuses are systemic in international conservation, and may be reason enough for the U.S. to cut funding to conservation initiatives in unstable countries. The Department of the Interior funds several domestic and international conservation organizations through federal grants.

Former President Trump paused some international conservation grants in response to reports of mismanagement from nongovernmental organizations, and many Republicans during the hearing floated a similar idea going forward.

But Democrats and the hearing witnesses argued that uninterrupted U.S. funding is vital to international conservation efforts. Several of the witnesses advocated for focusing funding on Indigenous-led environmental management, rather than the "fortress" archetype of NGO-led nature reserves that exclude locals from ancestral lands.

"Indigenous communities should be empowered to take control of their resources and environment," Kaddu Sebunya, CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation, told lawmakers. "They are the ones who directly depend on nature."

Huffman expressed interest in reexamining the structure of nature reserves that he said were a legacy of colonialism, and said he would consider increased oversight of conservation organizations like WWF.

Wildfire management
During a Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States hearing, legislators and activists called for Indigenous populations to take the lead on another important conservation area: wildfire and forest management in the U.S.

Republican lawmakers expressed frustration with historic forest management techniques conducted by the Forest Service, saying that unmitigated fuel buildup is causing the extreme wildfires seen in recent years in the western United States. Democrats said that Indigenous forest management voices have been ignored.

“California, and the conservation community more broadly, has a history of mistrust of Indigenous peoples’ practices of cultural burning. I personally have long believed we must look to Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of this land, to inform federal land management,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.).

Witnesses at the hearing, all of whom were Indigenous, argued that using cultural techniques such as controlled wildfires and prescribed burning can be an effective tool in preventing extreme wildfires. The Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill contains $500 million over five years for prescribed burns in addition to funding for clearing and harvesting (Climatewire, Aug. 3)

Cody Desautel, director of the Department of Natural Resources of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, said tribes are able to accomplish more in their forests through controlled burning with about a third of the funding that the U.S. Forest Service receives. Desautel said that the Forest Service is often unable to perform burning techniques due to federal regulations.

But Desautel acknowledged the lack of resources and manpower can cripple tribal firefighting efforts, something that Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) said could be fixed with federal spending.

"Indigenous wisdom can help guide our response to today's environmental crises," said Fernández. "We can ... ensure that Indigenous communities have federal resources to promote cultural longevity with environmental protections."

Indigenous leaders during the hearing also said that the controversial Line 3 oil pipeline project infringes on tribal sovereignty.

"The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Enbridge’s certificate of need and route permit despite our repeated objections, treating us like any other private party and not the co-regulator of natural resources our status as a sovereign nation demands," said Michael Fairbanks, tribal chairman of the White Earth Nation in Minnesota.

Developer Enbridge Inc. completed its 340-mile Minnesota portion of the Line 3 project and began operating the pipeline in early October. The pipeline is now transporting 760,000 barrels of oil per day, despite significant pushback from tribal and environmental groups (Energywire, Sept. 30).


By:  Nico Portouondo
Source: E&E News