Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Killings and repression of defenders · Multiple countries · 2006–2023

WWF-funded ranger units accused of torture and killings in Asia and Africa

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

BuzzFeed News reported in March 2019 allegations of torture and deaths involving ranger units that WWF funded or equipped. A panel commissioned by WWF found no evidence that WWF directed the abuses, but said serious allegations reached senior management.

What?
BuzzFeed News reported torture, sexual assault and killings by ranger units funded or equipped by WWF in six countries. BuzzFeed News
Where?
Parks in Nepal, India, DR Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Thailand.
When?
The incidents described range from 2006 to 2023. BuzzFeed News published its investigation on 4 March 2019. BuzzFeed News
Who?
Gained
  • WWF — Received more than 150 million US dollars from the US government for this work since 2004, per the panel report
  • Wildlife Conservation Society — Received more than 19 million US dollars since 2010 for this work, per the panel report; in April 2022 took over management of Kahuzi-Biega park
Lost
  • Batwa forest people, Kahuzi-Biega, DR Congo — More than 6,000 Batwa were removed in the 1975 expansion without food, support, compensation or resettlement, per a Minority Rights Group report
Harmed
  • Villagers near parks in six countries — Reportedly beaten, sexually assaulted or killed by WWF-funded or equipped rangers, per BuzzFeed News (2019) BuzzFeed News
  • Chepang families, Chitwan, Nepal — Homes reportedly burned and demolished in 2020, two days after a 24-year-old man died six days after military detention
  • A witness in a case over burned Karen homes, Kaeng Krachan, Thailand — Disappeared in 2014; remains reportedly found in 2019 in a barrel in a dam reservoir
Why?
A UNDP draft investigation said the Messok Dja park programme measured success by patrols and arrests, so rangers punished the easiest targets. The panel said WWF put its relations with governments ahead of community safety. The sources reviewed do not give a single cause.
How?
The allegations concern ranger units funded or equipped by WWF. WWF called the Messok Dja incidents isolated. KfW said its funding was given only on the basis of existing law. The sources reviewed do not establish how each incident was ordered.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

BuzzFeed News reported in March 2019 allegations of torture, sexual assault and killings by ranger units that WWF funded or equipped in six countries.

In Chitwan, Nepal, a farmer died in park custody in 2006 and an autopsy found seven broken ribs. Three park staff accused of murder had their case dropped in 2007, and one of the accused was later hired by WWF Nepal, according to BuzzFeed News.

A WWF-commissioned panel chaired by former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay found in November 2020 no evidence that WWF directed rangers to abuse people. It said staff had received reliable reports from 2008 and that serious allegations reached senior management in 2014 to 2018.

A Minority Rights Group report of April 2022 said rangers and the army killed at least 20 Batwa at Kahuzi-Biega park in DR Congo in operations in 2019 and 2021.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2020Outcome not on record
      Military court ruling on ecoguards at Kahuzi-Biega and Salonga
      Bukavu military court · Criminal · Not stated in the sources reviewed → 10 ecoguards

      The court convicted 10 ecoguards from Kahuzi-Biega and Salonga parks of murder, rape and torture, per the sources reviewed.

    2. 2021-08Claimant won
      Constitutional Court ruling on Batwa land at Bwindi and Mgahinga
      Constitutional Court of Uganda · Civil · Batwa claimants (not named in the sources reviewed) → Not stated in the sources reviewed

      A unanimous five-judge bench found the Batwa were left landless without adequate compensation when the parks were created in 1991, and left the remedy to the High Court.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Court

    • Unclear Military court ruling on ecoguards at Kahuzi-Biega and Salonga: outcome not on record.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: WWF said it accepted the panel's recommendations.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a 2017 allegation that WWF-paid rangers in Lobéké, Cameroon, tortured an 11-year-old child.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not give the number of people affected in the BuzzFeed investigation or the outcome of most cases.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Law and courts

    Constitutional Court
    The highest court for questions of constitutional rights in a country.
    Trustees (natural resource)
    Government agencies that act on behalf of the public to recover and spend damages for harm to natural resources.
    Similar cases
    Killings and repression of defenders · India · 2018–2024
    Thoothukudi Sterlite copper smelter protest shooting
    Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame countryCourt: outcome not on record
    Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Republic of Congo · 2010–2025
    African Parks Odzala-Kokoua abuses (Republic of Congo)
    Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame regionCourt: won by claimant