The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) organisation has restricted local communities’ land access to operate its nature conservancies – which serve as tourist parks and carbon removal projects in which companies like Netflix and Meta invest to offset their emissions. A new report by Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) documents how NRT’s actions have triggered a human rights crisis among Indigenous people.
Paris and Brussels, 29 July 2025. In northern Kenya, the landscape of Isiolo County attracts tourists fascinated by the wildlife, but also “green” investments from large companies in search of climate credentials. Yet, human rights violations against Indigenous communities, who have for centuries lived off their pastoral activities, are serious, persistent and worrying – a new report by FIDH and ASF reveals.
Based on an in-depth literature review and extensive fieldwork, the report highlights a troubling pattern: while conservation initiatives flourish, the communities whose lands and livelihoods are most affected by their development remain without access to justice. In Isiolo’s conservancies — many of which operate under the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) — the right to effective remedy remains largely out of reach for pastoralist communities.
Systematic harassment
Community members in Isiolo report systematic harassment by security forces, restrictions on land access, and even abductions and extrajudicial killings. Human rights defenders and community leaders are increasingly targeted and subjected to abusive legal cases, including strategic lawsuits against public participation, for speaking out. Attempts to seek redress are routinely blocked by procedural and practical barriers.
“Biodiversity and climate mitigation cannot come at the cost of human rights“, said Gaëlle Dusepulchre, Deputy Director of FIDH’s Business, Human Rights and Environment Desk. “The study shows that violence and intimidation are a daily reality for those denouncing the violations behind these projects. All actors involved – including the state, conservancy operators, investors and institutional donors – must ensure conservancies’ strict adherence to human rights standards and transparency and secure real participation and justice for local communities.“
The NRT is the umbrella organisation for 45 nature conservancies across Kenya. It receives support from public cooperation funds like the European Union, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the French, Swedish and Italian agencies for development.
Last January, Kenya’s High Court found that the NRT should cease operations in two conservancies found to be illegal as they were established without the free, prior and informed consent of communities.
While conservancies are presented as a way to protect ecosystems and communities’ livelihoods, NRT controls land governance and revenues like a private business. The research corroborates the many ways in which the management of the conservancies goes against United Nations principles for corporate human rights responsibility.
At the heart of the crisis lies the failure to formally register community lands under Kenya’s Community Land Act. This legal vacuum creates a dangerous power imbalance: communities are excluded from decisions over their ancestral lands and deprived of the benefits of conservation-related revenues.
“In Isiolo, the conservancy model is seen by communities not as a space for protection or development, but as a dominating force replacing state authority and controlling their land and lives. Many express a deep sense of powerlessness, as affected communities lack clear and accessible pathways to secure their rights — leaving them without the means to shape decisions about their future. The High Court ruling is a landmark recognition of these abuses, and a wake-up call for donors and investors to embed accountability and due diligence in conservation and land registration efforts“, said Grazia Scocca, ASF’s Legal and Policy Advisor on business and human rights.
