Talk:African Parks

Untitled
This page reads as an advertisement for the African Parks Network. In particular, there is no criticism of the Network. The Network has been accused of promoting a "Business Model" of parks management that involves the expulsion of the indigenous inhabitants from parks. After eviction, it has been accused by human rights groups (such as Survival International) of promoting foreign tourism in the areas--effectively replacing indigenous inhabitants with wealthier foreigners. This led to the APN pulling out of Ethiopia all together.

In a wider sense, there is no discussion on the ongoing debates over privatization, neo-liberalization and the transfer of governmental responsibilities to private sector NGOs.

None of this controversy is reflected in this whitewashed account.

Sources: http://www.mursi.org/pdf/survival-afp-letter.pdf

http://www.matthijsblonk.nl/paginas/AfricanParksEthiopieEng.htm

http://www.mursi.org/news-items/african-parks-to-give-up-its-management-of-the-omo-national-park/

http://globaljusticeecology.org/connections.php?ID=154

--Aebrynis (talk) 15:24, 8 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Thought that Wikipedia is about together creating unbiased and undisputed articles. So, instead of disputing the article for its neutrality, you could have easily added the links above to the article as I did now. As of the statement "In a wider sense, there is no discussion on the ongoing debates over privatization, neo-liberalization and the transfer of governmental responsibilities to private sector NGOs": although I'm not disputing the fact that the discussion you mention here can be useful, it is not a discussion that should be added to this article. Such a discussion, IMHO, should be held in a separate place and eventually be added as link to NGOs that it might involve. --Preijnen (talk) 08:00, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Possible plagiarism
Long phrases for the lead section have possibly been taken from the organization's website and were only slightly rephrased. See WP:PLAGIARISM, such additions in the topic's own voice also prevent a neutral point of view for the article. I have reverted back to an earlier version, and rephrased some statements in a more uninvolved neutral tone. GermanJoe (talk) 16:58, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

Requested move 25 September 2017

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: Moved. No opposition, and seems reasonable. &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 11:02, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

African Parks Network → African Parks – "African Parks" is the legal name and would reflect how the nonprofit organization's name is used generally, so I propose moving this page appropriately. Here is a link to the organization's official website, and here are examples of articles using the name "African Parks": New Times, National Geographic, CNN, The Daily Telegraph, Inside Philanthropy, etc. Full disclosure: I am submitting this request on behalf of African Parks via the Wyss Foundation, and as part of my work at Beutler Ink. This is the first in a series of requests to create and expand several Wikipedia articles related to African Parks. You can learn more here: User:Inkian Jason/African Parks. Thanks! Inkian Jason (talk) 18:13, 25 September 2017 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Draft article
On behalf of African Parks via the Wyss Foundation, and as part of my work at Beutler Ink, I am submitting an expanded and updated draft of this article for community review. You can view my proposed draft here. The aim of my draft is to improve upon the current article. As a reminder, this edit request is part of a series to create and expand several Wikipedia articles related to African Parks. You can learn more here: User:Inkian Jason/African Parks.

I'd like to start by identifying some major problems with the current article. Most notably, the "Organization" section and "Affiliate organizations" subsection are entirely unsourced, and the "Parks managed" section presents a lot of information using a single bad URL (an outdated African Parks web page, nonetheless). Additionally, the parks section is displayed as a bulleted list, and the "Formerly managed parks" section has a string of 8 inline citations. Both of these problems go against Wikipedia's manual of style. Several inline citations link to outdated African Parks web pages, or even nonexistent sites, such as ChinkoProject.com.

I've worked to draft a thorough overview of the organization's history, activities, and leadership, using Wikipedia's appropriate sourcing. The "Overview" section describes African Parks' mission and activities, and has a list of parks managed (in prose form). This section also includes the number of employed rangers, leaders and co-founders, major funders, and the annual budget. The "History" section describes the organization's history and major developments and projects, including structural changes, in chronological order. The "Overview" simply lists of parks managed (by country), while the "History" section offers more context.

I do not edit articles directly because of my conflict of interest. African Parks has provided feedback to ensure accuracy. I'm looking for a volunteer editor who is willing to review the draft and copy over content appropriately to the live article. I hope anyone reviewing will conclude that the proposed draft is a major improvement over the existing article. You were very helpful with several of the national park articles, and I wanted to bring this one to your attention as well, if you're interested. I'm happy to address concerns here. Thanks for your consideration. Inkian Jason (talk) 01:49, 2 June 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ It's been a couple days and no one has objected, plus there have been no editors making substantial edits to the article this year, so I have implemented the changes. The proposed article is more thoroughly referenced and eliminates undesirable things like in-body lists. I find it to be neutral and accurate. The only question I had was about how RS Mongabay was, however, on closer examination it seems fine for the ways in which it is used. I removed the external links section per WP:ELMINOFFICIAL, since there was already an official link in the infobox. Thanks. Chetsford (talk) 03:13, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks again for your assistance. Since the article is now live, I've gone ahead and uploaded the organization's logo: File:African Parks logo.png. Would you mind adding the logo to the infobox? Inkian Jason (talk) 14:49, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ Chetsford (talk) 19:11, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Inkian Jason (talk) 19:34, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Navigation template and category
On behalf of African Parks, I've created a navigation template for community consideration, in order to group and link related articles. The template includes the parent article (African Parks) and a list of all notable parks managed by the organization. I've drafted a template here, which can be moved into the main space appropriately, and of course I'm open to refinement. I'm also curious if editors think creating Category:African Parks would be helpful for grouping related articles. With the template and category added to each entry, users will be able to easily navigate from one national park article to another.

Since you've helped the most with the African Parks-related articles recently, I'm inviting you to weigh in here, if you're interested. As a reminder, you can find an overview of my Wikipedia work on behalf of African Parks here. Thanks, Inkian Jason (talk) 18:20, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I agree it's a good template to have and I've created it and added it to this, and a few other articles. However, I might not have time in the next few weeks to add it to the rest of them so if someone else was able to take that on I'd invite them. If not, please let me know and I'll do the rest. Chetsford (talk) 19:12, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Thanks again for your help. No problem regarding the remaining articles, I will see if I can get someone else to lend a hand.

Chetsford has created Template:African Parks, and I'm wondering if you'd be willing to add this navigation template to the remaining national park articles. I've identified below which articles have the template, and which do not:


 * African Parks ✅
 * Akagera National Park ✅
 * Bangweulu Wetlands ✅
 * Bazaruto National Park ✅
 * Chinko ✅
 * Garamba National Park ✅
 * Liuwa Plain National Park ✅
 * Liwonde National Park ✅
 * Majete Wildlife Reserve ✅
 * Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve ✅
 * Odzala-Kokoua National Park ✅
 * Pendjari National Park ✅
 * Zakouma National Park ✅

I realize adding an accepted navigation template is not a very controversial action, but given my COI, I prefer not to edit the main space directly. Thanks for your consideration. Also, do you have any thoughts on the creation of Category:African Parks for grouping related articles? Inkian Jason (talk) 21:02, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I will be happy to co-operate with this. Your attitude to your editing of African Parks articles is a shining example of how conflict of interest editing should be done! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:03, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I have done all but one. Is Pendjari National Park under the management of African Parks? Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:38, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help. Yes, Pendjari is managed by African Parks, but the article may need some updating. Inkian Jason (talk) 14:11, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Right, I have added the template there as well. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 17:30, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:31, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Just in case either of you care to follow along, or comment, I've submitted a request for the creation of Category:African Parks here. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:32, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Category:African Parks (organisation) has been created (Category:African Parks was deemed too similar to Category:Parks in Africa) and added to all African Parks-related articles. Inkian Jason (talk) 19:46, 7 June 2018 (UTC)