The legacy of violence behind fortress conservation

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Note: An earlier version of this story featured a section about the Alto Mayo forest in Peru. The section has been removed for conflating conflicts in the Alto Mayo Protected Forest with situations in the Cordillera Azul National Park and Cordillera Escalera Regional Conservation Area. Specifically, the section attributed the establishment of protected areas in Kichwa territories with a protected area where no Indigenous peoples are known to live. We regret the error, and have removed the section to avoid confusion.

Gord Hill is the author of three graphic novels, The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book, The Antifa Comic Book and The Anti-Capitalist Resistance Comic Book. He is a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw nation whose territory is located on northern Vancouver Island and adjacent mainland in the province of British Columbia. He has been involved in Indigenous people’s, anti-fascist and anti-globalization movements since 1990. He lives in Alert Bay, BC. Email High Country News at editor@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor. See our letters to the editor policy.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Editors: Tristan Ahtone & Chuck Squatriglia
Fact Check: Tushar Khurana
Copy editor: Kate Yoder
Spanish translation: Nathalie Herrmann
French translation: Leah Powers
Additional art direction: Mignon Khargie

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

This project was supported by the Bay & Paul Foundations

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