Defend the Defenders Toolkit

Intro

Arctic Europe and Russia

North America

Oceania

Southeast and East Asia

Western Asia and North Africa

Central and South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Latin America

Profile Picture Campaign

Save Nairobi National Park

Explore

Baka community

#ShameThePanda

The context

⁠

Baka community⁠

⁠

Our Demands

We demand WWF pulls their proposal to build their Messok Dja national park. Uncountable abuses have already occurred in the area of the proposed national park. We demand WWF returns absolute rights and control over land back to the Baka, the indigenous and all other local communities in and around the proposed area of the Messok Dja national park, with support from WWF to implement their own locally run strategies, only IF they wish to use them at all.

We demand WWF stops all current and future projects using Fortress conservation models. They lead to innumerable human rights abuses and are proven to be less effective at preserving biodiversity and land. All current and future WWF projects must adopt an Indigenous conservation model. This will involve all projects to be entirely indigenous led. If indigenous people do not wish to engage in projects, assess if funding is needed in other areas such as legal fees to battle persecution and allocate it there (provided funding is wanted)

We demand WWF cuts all funders (ie: all organisations who fund WWF) who are recorded and known to be polluting organisations or industries such as: Coca Cola, the palm oil industry or logging industry.

We demand WWF takes a public stand against greenwashing. This includes publicly rejecting all current and future companies recorded and verified to be human right abusers or environmental polluters.

We demand WWF must ensure the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is applied for all current and future projects involving tribal peoples and their lands. Real “progress” for tribal peoples starts with the recognition of their land rights and extends to their right to determine their own futures

Twitter storm

When and how often should I tweet?

(All times listed in GMT. To convert to your own time zone, use

Time Zone Portal | GMT⁠

)

Tweet each @ at least 5-10 times in at least 5 of these time periods

Time periods

GMT 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM

GMT 12:00 AM - 2:00 AM

GMT 4:00 AM - 7:00 AM

GMT 9:00 AM -11:00 AM

GMT 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

GMT 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

GMT 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM

GMT 1:00 AM - 3:00 PM

GMT 5:00 AM - 8:00 AM

All times are under "May 30" for different time zones (Australia - West Coast), so keep tweeting even if it is May 31 for you.

Who should I tweet to?

@wwf, which is funding the disastrous Messok Dja project

What should I tweet?

Here are some examples that you can click to tweet and edit on your app or website!!

⁠

@wwf When will you stop using fortress conservation as a conservation technique? Not only is it not effective, it has also led to large scale human rights abuses against the indigenous people of the areas you claim to protect. Hand freedom and power back to the indigenous.\r\n⁠

⁠

@wwf Villagers all across the area of Messok Dja have voiced their fear of violence from WWF eco-guards stemming from your use of Fortress conservation. End the oppression, end the abuse and instead employ indigenous run projects empowering the local people of Messok Dja.⁠

⁠

@wwf Consent for your proposed Messok Dja national park has not been granted by the people who live in the Messok Dja territory. The people of the Messok Dja area have spoken: they do not want your project. It’s time to wake up, your colonial conservation methods are not welcome\r\n⁠

⁠

@wwf You committed to respecting the rights of the Baka community to freely consent to your proposed Messok Dja national park. So why are the Baka reporting their lands are being rapidly transformed into ‘conservation’ areas with NO consent? It’s time to back words with action.⁠

⁠

@wwf Many complaints have been filed to the UNDP about your programme in Messok Dja. One Baka member said “Together, we the inhabitants of Zouoba – Bantu and Baka – refuse the park outright. WWF arrived in our forest and is establishing boundaries without our consent.”⁠

⁠

@wwf The UNDP has received detailed reports of the violence and oppression your eco-guards have undertaken upon the Baka and other indigenous peoples. Stop the #Messokdja project, stop the bloodshed and hand back the land to the Baka and all others native to the Messok Dja region⁠

⁠

@wwf In response to a UNDP draft detailing all the human rights abuses under your control you stated “We are appalled by the observations and allegations of the report”. But nothing has changed, you still continue to pay for the ineffective and abusive Fortress conservation model⁠

⁠

@wwf Referring to the Messok Dja park Survival international published a statement: “Millions have already been spent on the proposed park, much of it coming from logging, palm oil and tourism companies, as well as conservation NGOs. They are working together to steal Baka land”.⁠

⁠

@wwf Your claims of building a park for ‘preservation’ reasons are utterly undermined by your alliance with companies whose environmental and human rights records are awash with suffering. This is not about preservation… this is about profit.\r\n⁠

⁠

@wwf Despite your deliberate ignorance regarding all relevant UN policies and laws for Indigenous people and human rights…poaching has NOT decreased since the rollout of your $21.4 million Messok Dja project. Is this really ‘conservation’ or colonialism in a shinier ‘green’ form?⁠

⁠

@wwf Your Fortress conservation method sees indigenous people as enemies who deserve to be dehumanised and extracted from their homeland in the name of ‘conservation’. Yet your $21.4 million Messok Dja is massively funded by palm oil, logging and tourism companies???⁠

⁠

The context

Our Demands

Twitter storm

When and how often should I tweet?

Time periods

Who should I tweet to?

What should I tweet?

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.