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A genetically engineered (GE) chestnut modified with a wheat gene is being framed as a conservation breakthrough, but the reality is far messier and far more permanent. After the USDA deregulated the GE American chestnut for release, we asked the question regulators keep sidestepping: what does “safety” even mean when a tree can live for centuries, spread pollen for miles, and reproduce in ecosystems we cannot control?

We speak with Anne Petermann of Global Justice Ecology Project and the Campaign to Stop GE Trees about the Darling 54 GE chestnut and its defects documented along the way, including loss of blight resistance, high mortality rates and other serious problems tied to the genetic engineering process. We also unpack the next regulatory hurdle at the Environmental Protection Agency, where the fungus-resistance trait could be treated as a plant-incorporated protectant, raising thorny issues around tracking, accountability, and the basic impossibility of recalling a self-spreading organism once it is loose in the wild.

Then we step back and look at what’s already happening without genetic engineering: wild American chestnuts persisting and returning across the range, breeding work to strengthen natural blight resistance in wild American chestnuts, and a vivid on-the-ground example captured in our short film featuring naturalist Bernd Heinrich, where multiple generations of chestnuts are thriving and reproducing. We also dig into the controversy around GE chestnuts planted o the White House lawn, and why cross-border pollen drift puts Canada’s endangered chestnut population in the blast zone.

If you care about forest ecology, biodiversity, and real restoration, listen through to the end for ways to get involved, then subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can follow what the USDA, EPA, and the GE tree industry do next.

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We talk with investigative journalist and filmmaker Zahra Moloo about how conservation in Southeast Cameroon has meant the eviction of the Baka people from their ancestral forests, while logging, trophy hunting, and fortress conservation-style "protected areas" expand side by side. We trace the colonial and capitalist roots of fortress conservation, what violence associated with fortress conservation has done to the Baka people community over time, and what justice might require if conservation is going to include human rights.
• fortress conservation and why “pristine wilderness” often means forced removals of the indigenous inhabitants
• Zahra’s reporting in Southeast Cameroon around Lobeke, Nki, and Boumba Bek parks
• Baka communities living on the roadside and the daily cost of losing forest access
• trophy hunting zones, logging concessions, and how “sustainable development” gets justified
• the 2019 access agreement, reduced violence claims, and why fear can still keep people out
• sedentarization, citizenship paperwork, and how colonial land law shapes dispossession
• violence as a tool of enclosure and discipline across parks and trophy hunting areas
• what accountability could look like beyond so-called grievance mechanisms
• centering Indigenous knowledge as the world pushes 30x30 conservation targets

If you’re enjoying this episode of Breaking Green, please subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. Consider leaving a review and sharing it with friends and colleagues.

You can find the full catalog of previous episodes and sign up to have future episodes delivered straight to your inbox at breakinggreen.org. Breaking Green is made possible by tax-deductible donations by people like you.

Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights, and expose false solutions. Simply text Give G I V E 2 1716 257 4187. That’s 1716 257 4187.

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Photo: Orin Langelle / Global Justice Ecology Project

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

It is tasked with the promotion of global peace and security through international cooperation in education, science, culture, and information.

Yet recent reporting by Survival International focuses on how UNESCO has used its influence to support the forced relocation of the Indigenous Maasai People from their ancestral land in Tanzania.

We talk with Survival International researcher Paul Renaut about the model of “fortress conservation,” that is driving forced evictions of Maasai people in Tanzania and how the UNESCO World Heritage status is amplifying that pressure.

We trace what these forced relocations look like on the ground, who profits, and why Indigenous land rights are central to real biodiversity protection.

In the episode we discuss:
• Survival International’s campaign to decolonize conservation and expose human rights abuses committed in the name of nature protection
• How the “empty nature” myth frames Indigenous people as threats despite long-term stewardship
• Violence linked to protected areas including beatings, torture, rape, and armed repression by ranger forces funded by major conservation groups
• Maasai displacement history from Serengeti and the ongoing threat across Maasai land tied to tourism and trophy hunting
• UNESCO’s role through World Heritage designations, “population pressure” language, and legitimizing forced relocation narratives
• What “voluntary relocation” can mean in practice including cattle confiscation, arrests, and suspension of vital services
• Scientific and cultural arguments for pastoralism as a biodiversity-positive land management system
• How carbon credits and offset thinking can shift environmental burdens onto Indigenous communities
• Maasai-led resistance through legal work, organizing, mass protests, and direct engagement with international institutions

If you're enjoying this episode of Breaking Green, please subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. Consider leaving a review and sharing it with friends and colleagues.

You can find the full catalog of previous episodes and sign up to have future episodes delivered straight to your inbox at breakinggreen.org.

To learn more about Global Justice Ecology Project, visit GlobalJusticeEcology.org.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax-deductible donations by people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forest, defend human rights, and expose all solutions. Simply text GIVE to 716 257 4187.

link to the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance’s website : https://www.misasolidarity.org/

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