From the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

• Author: Roberts, Carter S.
• Position: FROM READERS - Letter to the Editor

Indigenous peoples have been the objects of violence, discrimination, and abuse for more than five centuries. Recent decades have eroded some of the cultural and geographical gaps between indigenous peoples and industrial society, but this erosion often benefits the latter at the expense of the former. Recent decades have also seen the worlds of conservation and indigenous peoples come closer and many times the proximity has been mutually beneficial. Regrettably, in some cases it has not.

Although often exaggerated and peppered with inaccuracies, "A Challenge to Conservationists" succeeds in highlighting complex relationships between the rights of indigenous peoples, land tenure and resource rights, and conservation. While we take exception to the misrepresentation of our on-the-ground work with indigenous peoples, we share the author's broader concerns.

For more than 40 years WWF...