Earlier this year, BuzzFeed News broke several stories detailing human rights violations by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). The publication found that, since 2009, as part of its “anti-poaching” efforts, the WWF has armed, trained, and funded paramilitary units, located in six different countries, that committed various abuses — torture, sexual assaults, and murder of local villagers. The non-government organization (NGO) was also found to have evicted tens of thousands of indigenous residents to make room for Chitwan National Park in Nepal.
BuzzFeed portrayed these abuses as a dangerous — but fairly recent — side effect of the conservation movement’s increasingly militant war against well-armed poachers.
The truth — barely touched upon by mainstream media — is much more insidious than that. The WWF serves a larger purpose: for powerful interests to cordon off land for the exploitation of natural resources. It may even serve as a cover for covert military operations.
To unpack these loaded claims, the story of WWF’s militancy will be broken into two parts: the history of the organization’s founder and his involvement in clandestine activities, followed by its more recent alliance with corporate and military partners. (more...)
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