A/79/160 the green transition, as Governments and foreign investors assume that their lands are empty. Wind and solar farms and the mining of energy transition minerals are imposed on mobile Peoples’ lands without their consent, such as the mega hydropower dams in Ethiopia 83 and the Olkaria Geothermal and Lake Turkana wind power projects in Kenya, 84 the Alcazar Energy solar photovoltaic farm in Jordan 85 and the Zarafshan wind power plant in Uzbekistan. 86 In Norway, litigation is under way and tensions are rising over new wind power and mining projects on Sami territories, 87 despite the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urging the Government to stop the construction of wind farms, and a 2021 finding of the Supreme Court that the Government violated Sami rights by permitting wind farms. 88 In his report on green finance, the Special Rapporteur further warned of the risk of harm caused by unregulated carbon markets on Indigenous Peoples’ rights. In Colombia, recently contacted Nükak people signed a 100-year carbon credit contract with exclusivity and irrevocability clauses favouring a private company, without fully understanding its implications and lacking institutional support. 89 40. Exclusionary forms of conservation continue to be forced on mobile Indigenous Peoples, leading to the loss of access to lands, territories, resources and marine areas, involuntary resettlement, poverty and cultural loss. “Fortress conservation” principles assume that Indigenous Peoples are incapable of caring for and protecting lands and waters and therefore cause biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. 90 To the contrary, studies show that Indigenous Peoples are the best conservators of nature. 91 For example, the use of sea and coastal resources practised by the Moken sea people of Myanmar and Thailand has prevented environmental degradation. They move between seas and islands and are not confined to specific jurisdictions or citizenships. 41. In Nepal, mobility is a distinct aspect of the Chepang Indigenous Peoples ’ identity. They depend on common property and solely live from the lands, forests and waterways that surround them. In 1971, the Chitwan National Park was established on Chepang lands without their free, prior and informed consent. Since then, they have been subjected to forced evictions, the destruction of their homes, ill -treatment and torture. 92 42. More than 6,000 Batwa hunter-gatherers have been evicted from their lands by the creation of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, without warning, compensation, reparations or resettlement options. They live as squatters depending on non-Batwa host communities. 93 Their case is pending before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 94 43. In the United Republic of Tanzania, over 45 per cent of lands are State-owned conservation areas, including the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which attract over 600,000 tourists annually. A recent legal change prohibits human settlement in __________________ 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 14/28 Communication No. ETH 3/2011. Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization submission. Oxford University Collective for Pastoralist and Nomadic People submission. Ibid. Sami Parliament of Norway submission. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, “Sami activists demand removal of wind turbines in Fosen”, 14 October 2023. See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/indigenouspeoples/sr/statements/ 20240315-sr-ipeoples-oem-statement-colombia.pdf. Sonam Mahalwal and Asmita Kabra, “The slow violence of fortress conservation creates conditions for socially unjust ‘voluntary’ relocation”, Biological Conservation, vol. 286 (October 2023). Siham Drissi, “Indigenous Peoples and the nature they protect”, United Nations Environment Programme, 8 June 2020. Communication No. NPL 3/2020. Communication No. COD 1/2018. Minority Rights Group and others, joint submission. 24-13045