The Rise Of Eco-Militarism On Africa's Conservation Scene

There are growing concerns around the increased militarisation of conservation in many African countries. The militarisation is driven in part by well meaning intentions to preserve animals facing extinction thanks to a complex network of international organised criminal groups. The black rhino population has decreased by over 90% since 1960 according to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

Since 1979, African elephants have lost over 50% of their range and the population is estimated to be at just over 400,000. Rhinos are illegally poached for their horns and elephants for ivory, with almost 70% of ivory going to China.

With such threats, many governments have moved to put more military personal on conservation lands in a bid to protect the animals, but this piece takes a hard look at the drivers of this "benevolent eco-military”.

The writers debunk the often exaggerated links between terrorism and poaching. Governments are desperate to ensure safety, while private military companies from the USA to UK are looking to expand influence by working hard to militarise conservation.

With such militarisation, even when private militaries train local rangers and leave, there are concerns for safety among local communities. "We need to think about what kind of conservation this drives on the ground, and how it looks to communities."

The piece also shows the impact and further marginalisation of forest-dependent communities in Central Africa and the Congo Basin as a result of more militarised conservation.

Conservation since colonial times has been enforced with disregard to communities who lived for generations alongside the wildlife. In Uganda, Batwa people were evicted from their lands to gazette these areas and were never compensated (if there can ever be just compensation). The militarisation complicates ways in which such communities can be safe, but also ways they can take part in conservation as they have done for millennia.