August 2024

On learning they had their voting rights removed, Maasai gathered by the thousands to protest. Click on the image to see a video posted on X.

Dear David,

We're at a defining moment in how to balance human rights and welfare, biodiversity conservation, and tourism in the Serengeti ecosystem.

As we’ve reported, Maasai in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are being threatened with evictions from their traditional lands. The Tanzanian government believes human settlements and livestock are a threat to wildlife and tourism.

To solve this, the government intends to move Maasai to a housing development hundreds of miles away near the Indian Ocean coast. It claims the move is voluntary. However, at the same time it increased pressure on residents by cutting social services, defunding schools and hospitals, and requiring passes for entry into their land.

Recent Developments

On August 18, thousands of Maasai men, women, and children gathered to protest, some blocking a tourist route between Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.

The catalyst, removal of voting rights from Maasai living in the NCA. Names of residents were transferred to the coastal area, where voting must be done, effectively disenfranchising them ahead of upcoming elections.

This latest protest comes weeks after the annual meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. The WHC had been falsely accused by some of being complicit in plans to remove Maasai. But it again reiterated its stance against forced evictions, upholding the multiple land use model in which people and wildlife share the land.

The protest also comes on the heels of an extensive report by Human Rights Watch protesting the breach of human rights of the Maasai. See It's Like Killing Culture.

Fortunately, the Arusha High Court immediately declared the move to disenfranchise Maasai unconstitutional. And in an apparent reversal, Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ordered the reinstatement of social services, education and healthcare.

But this is far from over. Learn more below...

Some protesters blockaded the road leading from Ngorongoro to the Serengeti National Park, leaving tourists temporarily stranded.

NOT THE END OF THE STORY BY FAR

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), was created in 1979 as a Multiple Land Use Area, where people and wildlife would share the land. But as time passed, Maasai numbers increased, from an estimated 8,000 to 100,000 today. It's pushed the carrying capacity of the land while endangering the welfare of an already economically impoverished Maasai community. At the same time, tourism has grown, bringing pressures of its own, especially in the Ngorongoro Crater.

The current situation is the sum of threats from human population growth, land degradation, climate change, and the needs of a growing economy. Population growth in Tanzania is a huge challenge to development, as shown in a new report. The country's growth rate surpasses the average for Sub-Saharan Africa, with the population doubling every 20-25 years.

A study of the NCA liviestock sector by researchers Pablo Manzano and Lucas Yamat from the Basque Centre for Climate Change paint a grim picture unless changes are made. They say,

"the number of households falling into poor to destitute categories is increasing over the years," and that "the natural resource base is at its limit under the current economic structure." If changes are not made, "at least 300,000 by 2040 will be condemned to dispossession and absolute poverty or to emigration without any skills or decent job opportunities."

Periodic droughts every six years or so already result in massive die-offs. In 2017, 70% of livestock died. Climate change greatly increases the odds that this will become even worse.

The authors of the study recommend a shift into more advanced milk production and education on all levels. The report says the importance of education "seems to have been completely ignored, with lack of educational facilities in the district that enable professional diversification."

The best way forward is (a) improving existing livestock practices by reducing herd size while increasing production, and (b) a massive increase in education, which will help reduce population growth.

If Tanzania can open a $300 million cigarette factory to help tobacco farmers, only to increase the country's long term healthcare burden, it can certainly invest in these as well.



THE WAY FORWARD

We're supporting a dairy project, designed by and for Maasai to build climate resilience, empower women, and lift people out of poverty. The program originates from a member of the Maasai community and aligns perfectly with the recommendations of the NCA livestock study. We'll send more on this soon.

Click on the image below to learn more

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Serengeti Watch / Earth Island Institute

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Serengeti Watch is a project of the Earth Island Institute.