The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), located in southeast Georgia, has been on the tentative list to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2023. This nomination has been promoted by Congressman Buddy Carter, U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, ONWR administrators, and even the privately owned Okefenokee Swamp Park, Inc.
From the beginning the proponents of this designation spoke of it in a promising light, boasting of its economic benefits and publicity for the area, while also praising UNESCO’s abilities to ‘save the swamp’ for future generations through its conservation efforts. However, a grassroots effort to research UNESCO and its World Heritage Site program began to find many fallacies in the promises of its proponents.
Tourism numbers at other World Heritage Sites showed no significant uptick, and much of the supposed job growth was not actual new job creation as we are led to believe but rather some added revenue for existing jobs. In other cases, where a WHS designation promised protection of historic locations, it was found that one such landmark in Africa was, quote, “left to rot.”
UNESCO and the countries that hold strong leadership positions, such as China, have also used the WHS program as leverage in decisions that would affect the economic activity of countries, sometimes in a detrimental way. As one would imagine, those who began to share this were quickly dismissed by leading proponents. However, after a continuous information effort, the people of the Okefenokee region have begun to solidify their opposition against UNESCO and the bid to make the Okefenokee a World Heritage Site.
Earlier this month, Clinch County, Georgia, became the third and final county of those that make up the ONWR to pass a resolution that acknowledges the dangers of the United Nations and the infringements that its globalist agendas would have on our most basic American rights.
This resolution, similar to the previous two from Ware and Charlton counties, reaffirmed the U.S. Constitution, specifically, among other things, our private property rights as citizens. This is a major step in the growing awareness of Americans of not only the incompatibility of the UN and its agendas with our culture and constitution but also the overall need to not associate with any United Nations program or initiative.
This regional pushback is coming at a time when the UN is being challenged in many places across our country, including at the federal level. Not only are citizens across the entire Okefenokee region hoping to stop the World Heritage Site dead in its tracks, but they are also hoping that this local effort serves as an important cog in the wheel to ultimately get our country out of the United Nations altogether.
As locals have continued studying the UN and many of its subsidiaries, it has become evident that virtually no good comes from any association with them because their goals are to undermine our sovereignty in some way at every turn. What is happening here in Southeast Georgia is also very encouraging.
It is showing that if Americans want to stand against evil, they can! There is nothing stopping them from taking hold of any of the problems that our nation faces. If people are willing to do the research on the issues and then boldly stand on the truth that is needed to resolve these issues, they can begin to defeat globalism and all that comes with it.