Review of the ARTE report on green colonialism
So, well, okay, planned it was a review. Nobody could have guessed that it would get so out of hand. Or did they?
Who would have thought that a documentary about safaris would tear me apart so much because it's just awful to see that not a single form of nature conservation works. Not what you might think, but read for yourself. That alone would have been enough material for a blog article.
But then there are the sideshows like carbon trading, which I researched in this new context - because I couldn't quite believe what Netflix had to do with it. And what I found out about British Airways in the process finally made me lose my voice. And so a small film tip became a, well, somewhat longer film tip. A film tip+, so to speak.
The ARTE report "Africa: Safaris and good business" presents an explosive investigative documentary that exposes the seemingly noble nature conservation in Africa as a complex system of commercialisation, power structures and structural violence1Africa: Safaris and good business - ARTE report 🌐 https://youtu.be/4SOmtX930TA . The 38-minute documentary exposes what many call the new "green colonialism" - a form of land grabbing that takes place under the guise of environmental protection.
The central scenes of a post-colonial tragedy
Rwanda: Militarised nature conservation as a business model
The report begins in Akagera National Park in Rwanda, which has been managed by the South African NGO African Parks since 20102African Parks - NGO website 🌐 https://www.african-parks.org/ . This is an example of how nature conservation can become a militarised business model has developed. In 2010, the park only generated 200,000 dollars, today it generates almost 5 million euros annually - a success that comes at a high price. And that's what I meant at the beginning when I said that no form of nature conservation works.
Common hippopotamus, hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius)
The military arsenal is impressive: a 120 kilometre long electric fence surrounds the area, armed patrols check every square metre, cameras with motion detectors monitor both animals and people. This "fortress" of nature conservation pursues a merciless zero-tolerance policy towards "intruders" - which primarily refers to the original population.
The legal protection is particularly perfidious: anyone who enters the fenced-in area without being a tourist (or employee) is automatically considered a poacher and faces up to seven years in prison. The confiscated traps and weapons are displayed like trophies in a "poaching museum" - a cynical symbol of the criminalisation of traditional ways of life. Which is not to say that I am in favour of hunting, far from it. But this hunting is not comparable to what we do in the northern hemisphere. When the cassava harvest fails due to drought caused by climate change and nothing else grows, this can be the only source of protein for the family.
Congo-Brazzaville: When conservationists become torturers
In the New Yangué Forest National Park in the Republic of Congo, the documentary shows the frightening reality of militarised nature conservation. Here, the Baka, an indigenous forest people, have been systematically expelled from their ancestral lands3Survival International -
Human rights organisation for indigenous people 🌐 https://www.survivalinternational.org/
. The report documents harrowing testimonies: a family father reports how rangers surprised and tortured him during the honey harvest - they pressed burning candles onto his back and whipped him.
This violence is not an isolated incident, but systematic. A former Baka ranger, who was initially arrested himself before working for African Parks, describes the cynical logic of the system: "First they imprisoned me for six months, then they hired me"4Survival International - FAQ on Baka and African
Parks 🌐 https://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/FAQs-Baka-African-Parks. The European Union cancelled its funding for the WWF project in the region in 2019 due to these human rights violations5WWF investigation into allegations of torture - DW 🌐
https://www.dw.com/en/wwf-launches-investigation-in-response-to-human-rights-abuse-accusations/a-47770307 .
Kenya: CO₂ credits as a new raw material
In northern Kenya, the documentary shows how the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) runs a multi-million dollar business with CO₂ credits6Northern Rangelands Trust - Kenyan NGO 🌐 https://www.nrt-kenya.org/ . Here, the traditional grazing practices of the Samburu, Maasai and Borana pastoralist peoples are controlled under the pretext of climate protection. In 2022, the NRT sold CO₂ credits worth 23 million euros to companies such as Netflix and British Airways7Survival International - Blood Carbon
Report 🌐 https://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/2466/Blood_Carbon_Report.pdf . The perfidious system works by controlling herd migrations: Every two months, the herders have to drive their animals to new fallow meadows - no longer according to traditional cycles, but according to the NGO's specifications. The herders hardly understand the abstract concept: "We know that this is wind from the earth, but I don't really know the difference between normal wind and wind from the earth". Neither do I.
Aeroplane on approach, Amsterdam Shiphol Airport, symbolic photo
The actors of green colonialism
African Parks: An NGO as a state within a state
African Parks manages 23 parks throughout Africa, covering an area the size of Great Britain, and has been granted sovereign rights by twelve countries8In the name of the animals - Olivier van
Beemen 🌐 https://www.hugendubel.info/detail/ISBN-9783406822070/Beemen-Olivier-van/Im-Namen-der-Tiere. The organisation maintains armed forces with extensive powers and effectively acts as a state within the state. The personnel structure is particularly problematic: the organisation is headed by a white elite that is removed from democratic control.
The investigative journalist Olivier van Beemen, who spent three years researching African Parks, particularly denounces the alliance between environmental protection and the European aristocracy9Olivier van Beemen -
Investigative journalist 🌐 https://www.oliviervanbeemen.com/ . Prince Harry has been active with African Parks since 2016 and a member of the Board of Directors since 202310Prince Harry - Member of the
Management boards of African Parks 🌐 https://www.african-parks.org/about-us/our-people/prince-harry-duke-sussex
. The organisation is funded by billionaires and Western governments and generated over 120 million euros in 2023.
The WWF: complicity in systematic human rights violations
The documentary also exposes the WWF's role in the displacement and mistreatment of indigenous peoples11WWF allegations of mistreatment - BBC 🌐 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47444297. As early as 2019, WWF had to admit that WWF-funded rangers had systematically targeted the Baka, according to research by Survival International and BuzzFeed12BuzzFeed-Investigation on
WWF human rights violations 🌐 https://www.buzzfeed.com/uk/tag/wwf . A 2020 WWF report confirmed that the organisation was aware of the abuses but continued to support and fund rangers13WWF report on human rights violations 🌐
https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/12500 .
common zebras (Equus quagga)
The WWF's justification is particularly cynical: they have not committed any direct human rights violations, but have merely supported government rangers. This argument ignores the responsibility under international law for the consequences of its own funding and training.
The system of green colonialism
Historical continuities
The documentary makes it clear that today's nature conservation in Africa has similarities with the colonial era. The first protected areas were established during German colonial rule in East Africa, where the local population was systematically marginalised. The concept of the "deserted wilderness" is a colonial construction that portrays indigenous peoples as a threat to nature. Totally bonkers.
Kenyan ecologist Professor Mordekai Og puts it in a nutshell: "With all due respect to my colleagues and friends in the USA, I don't want any good advice from you on environmental protection. You have wiped out the wild bison and migratory pigeons. We still have our elephants."14Professor Mordecai Ogada - Kenyan ecologist 🌐
https://www.conservationactiontrust.org/ .
The economy of displacement
Modern green colonialism is based on a perfidious economic system: safari tourism, donations from billionaires and Western governments, as well as the new trade in CO₂ credits bring in rich revenues. However, this money does not flow to the local population, but stabilises the authoritarian structures of the NGOs.
In Kenya, the NRT sold over 6 million emission certificates with a value of between 42 and 90 million US dollars. After deducting operating costs, the affected communities received less than 1% of this sum. The majority of the revenue trickled away into the NGO bureaucracy.
The militarisation of nature conservation
A central element of green colonialism is the increasing militarisation of nature conservation. Armed rangers act with quasi-police powers, arresting and torturing people in the name of environmental protection. This violence is legitimised by international funding and the rhetoric of "emergencies".
Resistance and legal successes
Kenya: A landmark judgement
The documentary also shows the successes of the resistance: In 2023, a Kenyan court declared two nature reserves established by the NRT unconstitutional and illegal15Kenyan
Court judgement against NRT reserves in 2023 🌐 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/kenyan-court-orders-two-community-wildlife-conservancies-shut-down/ . The judgement ordered the demolition of all buildings and could be applied to half of the other NRT reserves16Kenyan
Court stops CO₂ compensation project 🌐 https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/kenya-court-halts-flagship-carbon-offset-project-used-by-meta-netflix-british-airways-over-unlawfully-acquiring-public-land-without-community-consent/ . Hussein Jatani Ali, one of the plaintiffs, summarised the core of the problem: "The project has completely destroyed the traditional grazing system and introduced a new one that is tantamount to eviction".
International criticism grows
Criticism of green colonialism is also growing at international level. In 2019, Survival International successfully lodged a complaint with the OECD against the WWF17OECD complaint against WWF by Survival International 2019 🌐
https://www.oecd.org/investment/mne/
. In 2024, the African Commission of Human and Peoples Rights made a historic ruling in favour of the indigenous Batwa and recognised their rights to their ancestral land18African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights - Judgement in favour of the Batwa 🌐 https://www.achpr.org/ .
The role of Germany and Europe
The documentary makes it clear that Germany and the EU are significantly involved in the system of green colonialism. German development funds flow directly into militarised nature conservation projects via the GIZ and KfW19Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) 🌐 https://www.bmz.de/ .
Following the confirmation of human rights violations by African Parks, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is "concerned", but does not draw any concrete conclusions20Prince
Harry's conservation organisation confirms attacks - Survival International 🌐 https://www.survivalinternational.de/nachrichten/14210 . The EU resolution against the expulsion of the Maasai in Tanzania remains largely ineffective as it is not legally binding21European Union - Resolution on Maasai expulsions 🌐 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/ .
African Watusi cattle herd (East Africa), symbolic photo
CO₂ colonialism: the new raw material from Africa
The business of the climate crisis
The documentary shows how carbon credits are becoming the new raw material from Africa. Companies such as Blue Carbon from Dubai want to take control of huge forest areas - one fifth of Zimbabwe, one tenth of Liberia and Zambia and eight per cent of Tanzania22Blue Carbon - forest projects in Africa 🌐 https://www.bluecarbon.org/ . A total of 24 million hectares are involved, an area the size of Great Britain.
Tech giants such as Meta, Netflix and Beiersdorf buy CO₂ certificates from dubious projects in Kenyafootnote]Netflix & British Airways - CO₂ compensation in Kenya 🌐 https://about.netflix.com/en/news/net-zero-nature-our-climate-commitment [/footnote]. British Airways advertises itself as the "first carbon-neutral airline" by purchasing forest protection certificates. However, studies show that many of these projects have no demonstrable impact on the climate.
Lioness in Tanzania, East Africa
The failure of certification systems
The failure of the certification systems is particularly problematic. Verra, the world's largest trader of CO₂ certificates, has already had to suspend the Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project twicefootnote]Verra - certifier for CO₂ credits 🌐 https://verra.org/ [/footnote]. 94% of the certificates sold by Verra either have no positive climate impact or this is massively exaggerated23Guardian research on CO₂ credits 2023 🌐 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe . The Verra CEO resigned in 2023 after the scandal24Verra scandal explained - LSE Blog 🌐 https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2023/01/26/the-verra-scandal-explained-why-avoided-deforestation-credits-are-hazardous/ .
A systemic critique of nature conservation
The ARTE report "Africa: Safaris and good business" provides an unsparing analysis of contemporary nature conservation in Africa. It shows how, under the guise of environmental protection, a system has been established that continues the exploitation and oppression of the colonial era in a new form.
The documentary makes it clear that the problem does not lie with individual "black sheep", but is systemic. The fortress approach in nature conservation, which constructs people and nature as opposites, is fundamentally at odds with the rights of indigenous peoples and scientific findings on sustainable land use.
The combination of different locations and actors into an overall picture is particularly valuable. The report shows how local evictions, international financing, CO₂ trade and militarised enforcement form an interconnected system. It also documents the growing resistance and initial legal successes that give hope for change.
The 38-minute documentary manages to make complex issues understandable without simplifying them. It gives a voice to those affected and also allows critics such as Olivier van Beemen to have their say in detail. At the same time, it confronts viewers with the uncomfortable truth that nature conservation, which many people take for granted, can be part of an exploitative system.
This reportage is an important contribution to the decolonisation of nature conservation and should be seen by everyone who is interested in environmental protection, human rights or Africa. It impressively shows that real nature conservation is only possible with and not against the people who have been living sustainably with their environment for centuries.
