October 2024

Dear David,

The Serengeti and the people living around it face two serious challenges: climate change and a rapidly expanding human population. Women have an essential role to play in addressing both. This report explains why we’re supporting a ground-breaking project with women at the center.

Learn more below, and thank you for your support!

Dave Blanton

Serengeti Watch



Women and Climate Change

Climate change is already a stark reality in East Africa. A new study by a team of researchers shows that the Mara-Serengeti is rapidly warming. Between 1960 and 2024, the minimum average temperature rose by a startling 9.5 degrees Fahrenheit (5.3 degrees Celsius). The many implications for wildlife are listed in this study: Africa’s famous Serengeti and Maasai Mara are being hit by climate change – a major threat to wildlife and tourism

Severe droughts are becoming more frequent and intense, a tragic story for people and their livestock. Kenya estimates that a prolonged drought has killed 2.6 million cattle. Droughts in Tanzania have brought massive die-offs of cattle as well. In 2022, 98,000 livestock died from prolonged drought.

Women are at risk from climate change. The Brookings Institution says, “The most vulnerable and least skilled members of these populations, largely women and girls, experience most acutely the impact of climate change, particularly extreme weather events.”

But it also points out, “Studies show that female leaders are incredibly effective in conservation and are more likely to pursue more sustainable futures for their communities.” Women are on the front lines with important roles in food production, water conservation, and livestock care, including milk production.

The United Nations says, “Empowering women in agriculture can also have a positive impact on climate adaptation. By providing appropriate technology and resources, we can promote more sustainable farming and conservation practices."

Read more: Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining Inclusive Peace on the Frontlines of Climate Change

Women and Demographics

Taken together, climate change and population growth create a perfect storm of threats for both humans and wildlife. A finite amount of land around the Serengeti is being shared by more and more people.

Human impacts on Serengeti wildlife and habitat are well studied. “Boundary areas of the Serengeti-Mara region in East Africa have seen a 400 per cent increase in human population over the last decade, while more than three quarters of the populations of some of the larger species of migrating animals like wildebeest, zebra and gazelle have been wiped out, scientists revealed after examining 40 years of data.” See: Humans Putting the Squeeze on Serengeti: Population explosion fueling rapid reduction of wildlife on African savannah, study shows

Tanzania has one of the highest adolescent pregnancy rates in the world. “ It is estimated that 23% of girls aged 15–19 years begin childbearing, and 39% of adolescent girls by 18 years old are either already mothers or pregnant." The result, population is projected to double by mid-century from about 60 to 120 million. According to the World Bank, lowering the fertility rate would lift millions out of poverty and lower the cost of education.

Population growth around the Serengeti National Park is among the highest in Tanzania. The natural resource base is already at its limit, and it's causing social and political pressures on the Maasai. Reduced land available for grazing restricts their ability to follow rains and fresh pasture.

As we’ve reported, Maasai population in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) has increased tenfold to 100,000 or more and will double every twenty years. Cattle numbers in the NCA, however, have not kept pace. This has meant fewer cows per family, with more and more households becoming poor or destitute.

The challenge is enormous: How can food, health, and education possibly keep up? How can protected areas like the Serengeti survive such an onslaught of human presence and basic needs? One answer — education for women and girls.

See: Africa's Population Will Soar Dangerously Unless Women Are More Empowered.

Women and Education

Dr. Damaris Parsitau, is the first Maasai woman to earn a PhD and has been a visiting scholar at Harvard and Brookings Institution. She says “Girls from all over the world hold the key to our most pressing challenges, including climate change and environmental sustainability. Studies suggest girls’ education significantly and positively impacts families and communities. Investing in girls’ education is imperative.”

“If you educate a woman: She will know her rights and have the confidence and independence to stand up for them. She will choose whom to marry and when to marry. She will have fewer children, and they will be healthier and better educated than the previous generation. She will not circumcise her daughters. She will have economic security. She will spend 90 percent of her income on her family, compared to 35 percent that an educated man would spend.”

–  The Life of a Maasai Woman

There is ample evidence that getting girls into school has a direct bearing on population growth. But it’s not easy. Dr. Parsitau explains, “Maasai girls carry out demanding household responsibilities by helping their mothers with time- and energy-consuming responsibilities such as chores, cooking, milking cows and goats, cleaning, fetching water and firewood, and taking care of younger siblings, and so forth.”

Pastoralists like the Maasai are less likely to send their children to school than farmers and others. Children often have to walk long distances to school, sometimes with dangerous animals nearby. Preference is given to boys, and there are economic incentives for early marriage of girls.

Though barriers exist, there is also growing awareness that change is necessary. Maasai consider cattle a form of wealth, but keeping ever larger herds has become increasingly untenable. The same is true for families. Many Maasai women already want fewer children. As more of their daughters attend school, the dividends for the family, culture and nation will be huge.

Maasai male elders have given Dr. Parsitau the title of “honorary man,” with the power to speak for the community. A small opening in the patriarchy, but it shows change is on its way.

Maasai women at a dairy and forage production training session

Our Maasai Ecoagriculture Program

The program we’ve helped build addresses women’s empowerment, education, climate change, and food security. It is a holistic approach developed by Meyasi Meshilieck, a Maasai with a degree in science education and founder of Serengeti Preservation Foundation. He herded cattle as a young boy, sneaking books to read while he watched his family’s livestock.

His program educates Maasai women in the care of improved breeds that are far more productive than indigenous cows. Its goals are to produce income for women, improve nutrition, reduce herd size, and reduce stress on the ecosystem.

And importantly, it provides a pathway for girls’ education by empowering their mothers. As Dr. Parsitau points out, “Mothers are the untapped social capital in Maasai girls’ education…The need for role models is particularly acute for rural Maasai girls who have only been exposed to adult women with traditional roles in the home.”

Such programs can help Tanzania’s entire livestock sector. Tanzania has the second largest cattle population in Africa, more than 36 million. Even so, the country still imports milk and beef! 

This women’s dairy program follows exactly what one Tanzanian study recommends. “Ways of creating space for and maintaining women in the dairy value chain should be sought, tested and applied… Empowerment of women and developing their entrepreneurial and leadership skills would enhance women’s capacity to deal with milk sale as a business”

The bottom line — In our times, any community or nation needs the full participation, talent and energy of all its citizens. This program shows that solutions for conservation and human welfare are not incompatible. In fact, they must work together.

A new round of training is coming up. One hundred women will not only learn about raising new dairy cows, they will receive cows to raise in cooperatives.

Click on the above secure link, or send a check payable to:



Serengeti Watch / Earth Island Institute

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Ithaca, NY 14850 USA

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Serengeti Watch is a project of the Earth Island Institute.

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