American environmental
programs in Africa are benefiting no one except fat cat NGO
employees
African
Conservation NGOs Need Scrutiny
by Georgianne Nienaber
$73,000,000 in
USAID funding is vanishing into a program called the Central African
Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) with little or no
accountability from conservation organizations. This does not take
into account the over $1 billion allocated by USAID alone for
Africa. Conservation programs, staffed largely by British nationals,
are taking American generosity for a joyride in the heart of
darkness. Americans gleefully support “environmental” programs in
Africa that are benefiting no one except the fat cat NGO employees
who are living high off the hog on our tax dollars. These same Brits
bully accredited American journalists, engage in phony fundraising,
and file charitable tax deductions in the United States. And we
thought keeping track of Katrina funding was a nightmare.
Having just returned from a self-funded trip to the Democratic
Republic of Congo where my video record of the abuses was stolen by
a “conservationist,” I can tell you that we are not only wasting
colossal amounts of money in DRC, but we are also contributing
mightily to the image of post-colonial abuse of the indigenous
population there.
The primary goal of my visit was to examine a project, largely
funded by USAID, with money filtered through Union of Associations
for the Conservation of Gorillas and Community Development of the
Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (UGADEC), CARPE,
Conservation International, Pfizer Company and a host of
conservation organizations whom Congress should sort out. The story
of conservation interests abusing indigenous populations has been
reported previously by World Watch Institute, but has been ignored.
Perhaps our budget shortfalls here in the United States will be
enough to make Congress take a critical look at these African
programs.
In 2004, World Watch Institute published a document that made a
ripple, but was largely ignored by mainstream media. Author Mac
Chapin wrote that the big three conservation organizations, World
Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the Nature
Conservancy, "had become extremely large and wealthy in a short
period of time; and they were promoting global approaches to
conservation that have evoked a number of questions-and
complaints-from local communities, national NGOs and human rights
activists."
In the past two years, first hand accounts of abuses in DRC have
surfaced on my desk and seemed more like film noir accounts of Mafia
campaigns than the antics of sandal-footed conservationists. Big
media won't go there. CNN and Anderson Cooper got as far as
hell-on-earth Goma and high-tailed it back for home. While he was at
it, Cooper promoted the agendas of some of the very groups that need
to be put under a fiscal microscope by Congress
 The
eyes of the Congolese people are watching. Take a good look at the
photos that are posted here. Ask yourself what the women and
children in the marketplace near Lubero are thinking about the
Mzungus (white people) who are photographing them. Why is the
bicycle abandoned in the stream? The boy who was pushing it through
the water fled in terror, abandoning his most valuable possession in
the rushing waters, because the white people he encountered on the
road frightened him. The photo of the bicycle in the stream says
everything about our failed foreign aid programs DRC.
The United States has billions of dollars vanishing into Africa. You
would think the villagers in Congo would be happy to see us.
America should be helping these people. Social indicators for the
DRC are a mess. Infant and child (under five years of age) mortality
rates are 126 and 212 per 1,000 live births; one in thirteen
Congolese women will die in childbirth; over a million are living
with HIV; and life expectancy is somewhere between 42 and 50 years
of age, depending upon which statistics you want to believe. The
term "violation of human rights" is a non-sequitur, rape is
widespread in the eastern regions, especially Kivu Province, and
British mercenaries are arming starving villagers, dubbing them
"conservationists," and adding them to the already volatile mix of
guns and militia. Meanwhile, the United Nations Mission to the Congo
(MONUC) tries to keep the peace. At the same time, A British
“conservationist” told me of his plans to request funds for unmanned
surveillance aircraft from USAID. Congressman Murtha, I met you
while I was working on the Coleen Rowley for Congress campaign. I
hope you will not allow this guy to get drone aircraft from USAID.
Forget conservation in the Virungas. It is a failed policy and we
have no more business pumping money into the pockets of well-heeled
conservationists than we do sending any more troops to Iraq. We
screwed up. Face it. Get over it. Take care of the humanitarian
problems and perhaps the people won't need to eat every animal in
the park. Kick out the foreign nationals and allow the Congolese to
solve their own problems. The gorillas will survive, because the
Congolese officials realize their value.
The extent of the ivory trade is another indicator of the triumph of
corruption and the failure of conservation. Marc Kauffman of the
Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022600932.html
writes: "an international effort to halt the illegal killing of
elephants for their ivory tusks has all but collapsed in most of
Africa, leaving officials and advocates alarmed about the survival
of the species. A study released yesterday estimates that as many as
23,000 of the animals were slaughtered last year alone."
A visit to a store in a Goma back-alley revealed the extent of the
trade in elephant, hippo and rhino ivory in DRC. A request to
revisit the store was denied by "conservationist" who might have
realized the shop owner was willing to talk to the American
reporter. His motivations remain unclear. Congolese workers in the
Virungas, eager to explain the extent of the problem there,
exhibited an elephant skull and estimated the animal was killed
three months ago. They were genuinely concerned, able to communicate
in English to some extent, and their video interview was stolen.
They are not getting the money they need to do their jobs. The
question remains: “Where’s the money?”
The gorillas ARE the problem. Conservationists use gorillas as pawns
to leverage foreign aid programs, charitable foundations, and
trusts. Because of the potential tourism value, non-human primates
are valued more than human life and other wildlife by foreign NGOs.
There is a documentary about this called "Guns for Hire: Congo
2006," at http://www.vonplanta.net
A visit to Virunga puts it in context. There are hardly any animals
left in Virunga National Park. No amount of fire power will fix the
Virungas. Before any more money is sent there, someone, perhaps the
United Nations, should do some ground-truthing on foreign and
multi-national abuse of the Congolese people.
Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative writer
and the author of
Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey, an account of the
life and death of the famed gorilla researcher, Dian Fossey. For
more information visit
www.thelegacyofdianfossey.com.
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