In Korbesa, a village in the region of Isiolo in Eastern Kenya, a conservation project is leading to violent attacks against the local community. On May 8, 2023, Kenyan police violently cracked down on a protest against the conservation agency Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), firing live ammunition and tear gas into the unarmed crowd. The community was protesting against the opening of an NRT office in their village and the imposition of a conservation project without their free, prior and informed consent.
The day after, a woman was arrested while traveling with her child on a bus, on unfair charges of inciting the protest. She was given an exorbitant bail and she is now facing serious charges, in what it looks like an intentional strategy to silence dissent.
NRT presents itself as a community-driven initiative that focuses on participatory methods and local empowerment, but voices from the ground depicts a completely different story.
For years, the community has been speaking out against the serious human rights violations committed by NRT armed rangers, the loss of access to their land and natural resources, and the lack of dialogue and meaningful consultations. Among the most serious violations, there have been extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances in various grazing areas and watering points.
In September 2021, around 165 villagers from Khorbesa presented a petition in court, denouncing the human rights violations committed by NRT and affiliated authorities. So far, however, their request for justice has remained unaddressed.
Despite NRT’s terribly poor human rights track record, since its founding in 2004 the agency has received millions of dollars from well-known organizations and institutions, including the European Union, USAID, the World Wildlife Fund, the World Bank, and the French Development Agency.
Today NRT operates conservancies on over 10 % of Kenya’s land. According to a 2021 report by the Oakland Institute, “Stealth Game: “Community” Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya”, the NRT – together with the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and in coordination with the local authorities – have allegedly “dispossessed pastoralist communities of their ancestral lands, through corruption, cooptation, and sometimes through intimidation and violence, to create wildlife conservancies for conservation dollars”.
Camels kept by pastoralist communities in Northern Kenya for livelihoods. Credit: Oakland Institute