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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the devastating consequences of current conservation approaches for indigenous hunter-gatherers in the Congo Basin and presents an alternative approach that builds on their customary role of "masters of the forest" to create a space for them in conservation efforts.

Paper long abstract:

Once Bantu peoples began immigrating into the Congo Basin, the indigenous hunter-gatherers of the region, commonly referred to as "Pygmies," came to occupy a role within regional society of "masters of the forest," due to their exceptional forest knowledge and skills. Over the longue durée of regional history, this social identity conferred on them key roles to play in the myths and rituals of pre-colonial states and has allowed them to make important contributions to Bantu societies in economic and ritual domains. In Congo Basin conservation initiatives, however, indigenous peoples (IPs) can lose access to their forest territories, become dispossessed squatters, and witness the destruction of their traditional knowledge base. This has profoundly negative consequences for their health and well-being, yet it also undermines their primary social role in regional society. This paper examines these transformations and explores some ways in which a viable social role can be created for IPs in conservation initiatives. It begins with a short overview of their role of masters of the forest and then addresses the negative consequences produced by the "fortress conservation" approach currently employed by the conservation industry: because indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) are expelled from their customary lands, IPs lose the source of their economy and identity. It then presents an alternative approach which can avoid the devastating social effects of fortress conservation, while providing a means to re-valorize the cultural and environmental contributions that IPs can make in their role of "masters of the forest."

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Paper short abstract:

Lessons learnt in ten years of fieldwork among the HG Akie compared with the situation among Hadzabe (contacted more recently) in light of immense outside pressure with particular reference to conservation problems.

Paper long abstract:

The HG communities the author had contact to in Tanzania are the Akie as well as the Hadzabe. Both communities are not related at all (Akie being a Southern Nilotic people that has split off from Kenyan Okiek, Hadzabe belonging to the First Peoples of Africa). Both minorities are known to be guardians of a life in harmony with nature and their neighbourhood. For the Akie that have been studied since 2009 their relationship to nature is i.a. evident in rituals where an imaginary dialogue with ancestors was recorded (Legère, ACAL paper, forthcoming), see also MPI Nijmegen DoBeS archive (Akie collection). The ancestors were requested to maintain the status quo, i.e. to make sure that the Akie can live their traditional life even in a situation the control of which has been taken away from them. Being mostly marginalized means, that only a few Akie live and interact together in groups of their own in the periphery of villages (Kitwai A, Gitu, Chang’ombe), while others are scattered in a large area as individuals. These Akie groups are concerned of the loss of the territory that has traditionally been theirs, where they have been foraging, hunting, collecting honey, scooping water, etc. The expansion of their neighbours and strangers has initiated among the Akie the painful, destructive process of being forced to change their life style. They don’t have land rights that are guaranteed by local authorities, must pay a fee when honey collecting, can’t hunt as usual, because poachers and hunting tourists kill game, and more. In the Akie neighbourhood pastoralists graze their cattle which spoils the few waterholes where drinking water is available, virgin soil is turned into fields where maize or beans are grown, trees are cut for charcoal making, etc. Nobody cares for conservation any more. In this respect, the Akie are powerless, being overruled by ongoing changes that are not controlled and administered on their behalf. The Tanzanian central authorities are aware of the changes that HG groups are exposed to. There is the 2013 draft of a revised constitution which has not been approved by Parliament. Therein, paragraph 45 which deals with haki za makundi madogo katika jamii (Rights of small groups in society) recognizes the land right that is indispensable for the perpetuation of the traditional communities, but nothing has been done, for the revised constitution is not in power. A few more documents (also a 2017 TBC radio programme) have addressed HG problems, but nothing has been implemented. As a consequence the future of the small HG groups doesn’t seem to be ideal, and their existence is further endangered. They can’t play any role which aims at maintaining or improving the conservation in the territory they have been roaming before.

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Paper short abstract:

The paper represents an attempt to bring to light some crucial aspects which should be considered when thinking about the links connecting climate-change, eco- and sociological impoverishment and HG societies, starting from an anthropological linguistic perspective.

Paper long abstract:

The Ogiek of Kenya are a group of (ex) hunters and gatherers living mainly in the area of the Mau forest. During the last century, the colonial government first and the democratic government of Kenya afterwards repeatedly tried to evict them from their ancestral lands for their profit. The 2017 sentence of the African Court, which declared that the government of Kenya violated the rights of the Ogiek tribe, was welcomed as a milestone in the protection of the Ogiek people, and of their territories. In this battle for their rights, the Ogiek were supported by a number of NGOs that made them aware of their role as conservationists of their entire ecosystem. This paper focuses on the role that linguistic anthropology can have in helping in this process and aims to demonstrate:

- how much the discussion of folk taxonomies with the local people in a “grassroots” approach can make them realise that the impoverishment of the natural habitat during the last two generations has gone faster than the impoverishment of their language;

- how much facilitating a discussion on the above mentioned taxonomies, underlining the lack of correspondence with surviving species can trigger a positive effect, pushing local people to take action for the protection of the environment;

- how much, climate change can accelerate the process of abandonment of the traditional HGs' way of life and their shifting towards new models, better suited to the new climatic, eco- and sociological conditions.

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Paper short abstract:

Communities in the Deng Deng National Park - Belabo Forest Conservation corridor depend on hunting for food and income. For wildlife management, human use of, and reliance on, bushmeat must be understood so that locally appropriate mitigation strategies can be developed.

Paper long abstract:

Hunting is a common practice among people living in forest areas. Hunters catch from small size animals like rodents to large animals like the primates and ungulates. Diurnal primates are particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation as their reproductive rate is slower compared to rodents and ungulates. To reduce their rate of decline, human use of, and reliance on, bushmeat must be understood so that locally appropriate mitigation strategies can be developed. We tackled the social dimension of hunting by revealing why people hunt, the frequency of hunting, harvest composition, and the nature of human reliance. Questionnaires were administered to 83 hunters in 11 villages located in the Deng Deng National Park – Belabo Council Forest Conservation Corridor. Hunting was carried out in forest management units and in buffer zones with most of it done in buffer zones. Two main reasons were advanced for harvesting bushmeat; income generation and local consumption. A majority of the hunters hunted between 1-3 times in a month and will catch between 1-3 animals. The most caught small size animal was the squirrel and the large size animal was the monkey .Bushmeat was the principal source of animal protein consumed by the respondents. Annual income generated from the sale of bushmeat ranged between 25,000FCFA to 250,000FCFA, with a majority of the hunters generating between 25,000 – 100,000FCFA. Hunting is an important livelihood component for these communities. To reduce reliance on bushmeat harvesting the development of economic alternatives, and conservation education programmes should be given priority.

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Paper short abstract:

Indigenous communities are affected to various degrees by eco-conservation, reaching from the prohibition to hunt and gather to eviction, and even to lethal consequences, although alternative solutions, in line with UN standards, are at hand.

Paper long abstract:

The Panamaian government adopted a regulation of the Canal Zone’s US administration, according to which, for the purpose of conservation, indigenous peoples were forbidden to hunt and gather, and applied it to the entire country. Thus, the indigenous peoples are forced to gain income otherwise, which usually means that they have to receive paying tourists. - In Uganda, the EU has supported the re-education of the Batwa people, who were evicted from the national parks in the east of the country. But the idea of utilising the Batwa to be at display for tourist did not work out; when the temporary allowance of the EU ceased, there were cases of starvation, and Batwa women have become constant victims of rape. - The Halong Bay just off Hanoi had been home to a unique culture living of fishing and inhabiting the caves of the karst rocks that protrude above the water, as well as floating huts. In 1994, the bay was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in 2014, its indigenous inhabitants were forced to resettle to houses provided onshore by the government, in order to make way for tourism. - However, eco-conservation does not need to collide with indigenous rights and the protection of traditional culture. Under strict observance of UN standards, coexistence of indigenous culture and conservation, along with visitors, is not only possible, but can even contribute to the maintenance of culture and to cross-cultural understanding, as the Tourinfo project has exemplified.