The Rainforest Center
in Darmstadt Germany
Community-based Conservation
Indigenous peoples inhabit more than 25% of the global landmass, if you add local village communities that often use their land collectively, you even get to about 50%. The importance of these people for the preservation of global biodiversity and ecosystems is therefore of central importance. Nevertheless, even today, local village communities and indigenous groups are forcibly relocated or even expelled for economic reasons and even in the name of nature conservation. The number of so called "conservation refugees" worldwide is estimated at around 130 million. In Africa alone, around 14 million people have lost their homes, mostly due to creation or expansion of protected areas.
In the meantime, more and more nature conservation projects are being set up by indigenous communities either independenly or in cooperation with sience and conservation organizations. We see a very important aspect of future conservation in such initiatives by local communities.
With our work, we support such projects and advise them in their development. We act primarily in the following themes:
1. Secure land rights and help preserve cultural identitiy
2. Promote and optimize traditional forms of land use
3. Help improve the living conditions in the communities
4. Develop and implement community-based conservation projects