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 has been a global leader in innovating and implementing solutions at the interface of humans and nature in over a hundred countries. We have evolved from an institution supporting small, isolated wildlife conservation projects to a global network tackling the root causes of biodiversity loss and advocating conservation at much larger scales. Only by addressing these complexities and working at large, ecoregional scales have we been able to deliver the results that bring us closer to our stated mission of building "a future in which humans live in harmony with nature."

While WWF was the first large conservation group to articulate and practice a policy affirming the central importance of working as partners with indigenous peoples, we are committed to learning from both our successes and mistakes. To that end, WWF has resolved to:

* Openly re-evaluate the WWF policy on indigenous peoples and strengthen its enforcement and monitoring mechanisms;

* Examine WWF's large scale conservation programs as they relate to indigenous and local communities to expand support for effective partnership approaches as well as implement changes where necessary; and,

* Listen more closely to the voice of indigenous peoples and ensure that their concerns are addressed in the design and implementation of WWF field projects.

WWF is on the ground in many of the very same...