What happens when conservation excludes people?

Fortress conservation is a model of environmental protection that seeks to conserve wildlife and ecosystems by creating strictly protected areas from which human presence and use are excluded. The underlying idea is that nature is best protected when it is separated from people. In practice, this approach often involves establishing national parks or reserves with hard boundaries, enforcing restrictions through law enforcement, and limiting or banning access to land and resources that local communities may have used for generations.

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This model became dominant during the colonial period and was heavily influenced by Western ideas of “wilderness” as untouched, empty, and separate from human life. Many early conservation policies were designed by colonial governments and international conservation organizations, often without consultation with Indigenous peoples or local communities. As a result, fortress conservation has frequently led to the displacement of Indigenous peoples, loss of livelihoods, erosion of cultural practices, and long-term social and economic marginalization.