This searing report from the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program investigates the World Wildlife Fund’s partnership with luxury tourism company Natural Habitat Adventures and their role in promoting safari tourism in India’s most iconic tiger reserves. The report exposes how WWF profits from tours in areas where Indigenous Adivasi communities are being violently displaced, threatened, and even killed—all in the name of "conservation." Drawing on firsthand reports and international human rights frameworks, the authors call on WWF to end its complicity and uphold the rights of the original stewards of India’s forests.

Key Takeaways:

• WWF & NatHab Partnership: WWF partners with NatHab to promote high-cost safaris in India’s Kaziranga and Kanha Tiger Reserves—areas from which Indigenous communities are being forcibly removed.

• Mass Evictions of Adivasis: India plans to evict up to 400,000 Indigenous Adivasi people from tiger reserve lands, undermining their cultural survival and human rights.

• Violence and Abuse: Reports document murders, assaults, and militarized conservation tactics, including eco-guards in Kaziranga with shoot-on-sight authority—some funded by WWF.

• Contradiction in WWF’s Mission: Despite claiming to respect Indigenous rights, WWF profits from and facilitates tourism that contributes to human rights abuses on protected lands.

• Call to Action: The report urges WWF to suspend its partnership with NatHab and publicly denounce evictions until Indigenous communities give informed consent and are protected under law.

Read the full report to learn why real conservation must start with Indigenous justice.