The conservation movement's ties to the Israeli military you probably didn't know about.
A deep dive into the troubling, contradicting links between the carceral state and conservation efforts by your favorite organizations like the US National Parks, The Nature Conservancy, and the WWF.
In my efforts to holistically understand the settler colonial project in Occupied Palestine and its deeply sinister links to policing and prisons, I uncovered that it’s not uncommon for law enforcement officials in the United States to be trained by the Israeli military in Israel. For most of us engaging with Palestinian genocide awareness by attending talks, teach-ins, and protests, this information should not come as a surprise.
However, in my day job as a digital content creator for a local conservation organization, I recently discovered (on accident) the unsubtle involvement of the Israeli military in donor-funded NGO conservation efforts worldwide AND tax-payer-funded conservation efforts in public National Parks.
The environmental movement is far from perfect. We still have so much work to do to address and heal from white supremacy —from its racist founding history to its cemented entanglement with the white savior non-profit industrial complex. As someone who identifies as an environmentalist, what I’m about to share is deeply troubling, but also not completely shocking?
A gift bag containing a cuddly miniature rhino plushy, a fancy thank you cardstock, and a symbolic adoption certificate in your name confirming your virtue in saving the rhinos: That is what you receive on your doorstep when you donate $40 to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to help restore a species from extinction. I know this because admittedly, I’ve done it many times —for myself and as gifts for people I care about. Conservation NGO giants with international operations like WWF and The Nature Conservancy are known for their robust programs to protect endangered species in different parts of the world. There is an animal poaching crisis that’s unique to Africa and Asia that (allegedly) poses a serious threat to these species’ survival.
These organizations work to combat species extinction by deploying armed rangers to police and militarize conservation zones. Rangers, who are considered conservation professionals, are central to the operation to protect endangered species. They are trained to respond to ‘intruders’ with force and open fire, rather than being taught ecological techniques to wildlife conservation. You could get away with a feel-good non-profit profession in the name of protecting habitats when it’s quite literally nothing more than greenwashed policing.
Here’s one example of what conservation rangers training in Asia entails:
During the training the rangers will be trained on various tactical skills such as apprehension and detaining of suspects correctly and legally and recognizing and identifying signs and evidence of illegal or restricted activities in the field among many other skills. Source.
To state the obvious, there are deep-seated issues about approaching conservation with militarization. For one, studies have shown it doesn’t actually improve the bounceback of endangered species. The much larger concern involves a humanitarian assault, including collateral casualties of community members from misfired armed operations, criminalizing innocent people due to improper suspect screening, and manipulative interrogation tactics used to justify torture and incarceration. Armed ranger operations increase mortality rates on both sides: community members and the rangers themselves. These problems mirror the harm posed by the typical law enforcement system that abolitionists have long argued against. In a typical white colonial fashion, this logic rests on the problematic principle that risking human lives is acceptable in the pursuit of ecological and wildlife protection.
An investigative journalist from Buzzfeed uncovered:
In national parks across Asia and Africa, the beloved nonprofit with the cuddly panda logo funds, equips, and works directly with paramilitary forces that have been accused of beating, torturing, sexually assaulting, and murdering scores of people. Source.
WWF has provided high-tech enforcement equipment, cash, and weapons to forces implicated in atrocities against indigenous communities. Same Source.
(Please take some time to read that BuzzFeed article I just referenced. It is highly informative about this topic and goes into the gruesome impacts of conservation militarization and includes personal accounts from community members impacted.)
How exactly is Israel connected to this? I presumed a relationship between a military state known to train armed forces worldwide and the militarized conservation ranger system is not impossible. A few Google searches helped confirm the two and two I speculated.
While checking my reference on US law enforcement being trained by Israel, I learned the National Park Rangers and Park Police are included in the list of organizations that are trained by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Groups who train at FLETC include (but are not limited to) the regular old-fashioned police department losers who we’ve seen strapped up in riot gear to beat up peaceful protesters and murder civilians. There’s copious documentation online on the Israeli collaboration with law enforcement groups from California, Washington, New York, and more.
While there is no explicit documentation of National Park officers specifically, it is not completely impossible for these law enforcement professionals to have Israeli military ties. The affiliations seem way too close for comfort, and therefore, ACAB just to be safe! Also, it doesn’t exactly help that U.S. National Parks are founded on Native American genocide, displacement, and land theft.
My next rabbit hole brought me to a series of Israeli counterinsurgency influences on militarized conservation efforts funded by elitist-class and multi-million dollar budget non-profits of the Global North.
WWF is not alone in its embrace of militarization: Other conservation charities have enlisted in the war on poaching in growing numbers over the past decade, recruiting veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to teach forest rangers counterinsurgency techniques and posting promotional materials showing armed guards standing at attention in fatigues and berets. Ex–special forces operatives promote their services at wildlife conferences. But WWF stands out as the biggest global player in this increasingly crowded space. Source.
As I dove deeper into the suspicious world of forest rangers, I came across organizations like the World Ranger Congress that exist to promote the militarization of rangers in the name of conservation. Within this global coalition, the European branch is headed by Israeli delegations who are leading continent-wide military training for rangers to 38 conservation organizations across 30 countries. Some European countries are also involved in partnership programs with Israel to exchange militarized ranger techniques and knowledge.
What’s even more sinister is that Israeli parks, conservation, and environmental protection agencies have central focuses on two main things: 1) Military approaches through park ranger training, and 2) ‘Global’ Israeli heritage awareness but only in powerful, global North nations like the US, UK, Germany, etc.
These approaches are carried out by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Israel Nature and Parks Foundation respectively. You can read their self-described ‘about’ statements below:
Israel Nature and Parks Authority rangers are at the forefront of the struggle to protect flora and fauna in Israel. They work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Rangers fight illegal hunting, damage to the land, fires and anything else that threatens nature in Israel. The Israel Nature and Heritage Foundation assists rangers with the equipment they need to carry out their work. The foundation also encourages the rangers to join the International Ranger Federation.
The Israel Nature and Parks Foundation raises funds in Israel and abroad, initiates cultural events and public activities to encourage awareness of nature and heritage in Israel. The foundation has friends’ organizations in Britain, Germany and the United States that assist in realizing its goals. The foundation’s general assembly consists of 60 members, representing the entire political and social spectrum in Israel.
I don’t know about you, but I think pouring resources on militarization and propaganda sounds more like a recipe for a settler colonial project than actually saving the environment (which Israel has repeatedly proven their lack of concern for, by the way) based on the ecological genocide they are carrying out in Gaza through dropping explosives that emit tons of carbon and air pollutants, releasing white phosphorus that acidifies the soil, and the indiscriminate demolition of natural lands and ecosystems with no respect for them.
Further, isn’t it just totally strange that they require armed rangers to protect ‘flora and fauna’? Even though I disagree with it, I know the need for rangers in Africa and Asia is based on a legitimate decades-long, well-documented poaching crisis. But what imaginary eco-terrorists are attacking the plants and wildlife in Israel??? Is ‘Park Rangers’ just a euphemism for the IOF? Are they waging war against themselves since the Israeli military is quite literally the largest aggressor of natural land in that area? So many things worth critically examining.
To tie it all together, here’s a statement from the Israel Nature and Parks Foundation describing the role of Israel in training rangers in Africa, which is most probably funded by your favorite conservation nonprofits with large and serious operations in Asia and Africa against endangered species poaching:
Israel Nature and Parks Authority rangers represent Israel proudly at the World Ranger Congress. Many countries, especially from Africa, have expressed a desire to avail themselves of our extensive knowledge in the realm of illegal hunting. The presence of our rangers, sponsored by the foundation, at such conferences is very important to promote Israel worldwide. Source.
If you’ve made it this far in my article, congrats!! You’re probably thinking ‘wtf do I do with this information?!’ I feel similarly disappointed and disgusted. But now with a new understanding of these alleged connections between Israel’s military program and conservation, here’s a list of immediate action items I’ve brainstormed: (Feel free to comment with more ideas).
Stop supporting non-local conservation organizations that have overseas programs against endangered species poaching, especially in Asia and Africa. Yes, this includes The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund.
Research and get educated on the harms and horrors of armed park ranger operations, especially their impacts on local, Indigenous communities, and center this topic in every conservation conversation. I still recommend reading through this BuzzFeed investigation series.
Hold conservation organizations that employ armed rangers in their operations accountable. Email their board members, start talking about it online, and pitch op-eds. Organize against supporting them until they promise to end their funding to armed ranger operations.
While advocating for the defunding of ranger militarization, don’t forget to connect it to the collective effort to divest from Israel in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. One action does both things. It’s a win-win. Everything is connected.
If you are in the conservation or environmental space, get a foundational understanding of prison abolition frameworks; on how a world can exist without violent carceral systems through addressing its root causes. Military and policing in conservation are on the come-up. We need to bring abolitionist ideas into mainstream environmental work or we’ll inevitably be part of violent humanitarian crises in the pursuit of environmental protection. The idea that human rights and ecological protection go hand in hand is not up for debate. We cannot risk one to save the other. I recommend ‘Becoming Abolitionists’ by Derecka Purnell to start. Then, with modern abolitionist icons Mariam Kaba and Angela Davis.
While you’re at it, investigate these root causes and find ways to take action there too. Specifically, on the wildlife poaching crisis, find out: What type of people are carrying out illegal poaching operations? Why does this industry need to exist? Why is there a demand for poached wildlife? And who are the consumers of these products? What type of infrastructure currently exists or needs to exist to ensure people don’t need to resort to a dangerous, life-threatening, criminalized career in wildlife poaching?
Keep building this conversation!!