Maasai losing the Serengeti
The report “Losing the Serengeti: the Maasai land that was to run forever” (2018, 42pp), issued by The Oakland Institute, exposes the hardships faced by Maasai herders in the Loliondo region of northern Tanzania, where Tanzania Conservation Limited (TLC) has purchased a 96-year lease to over 5000 ha. It looks at the history of land laws, explains various legal challenges and shows how these forces are destroying the Maasai’s way of life. The report also looks at some ways forward, including an exploration of the United Nations’ guiding principles on human rights for businesses as well as innovations such as Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCROs).
The report is also available in Kiswahili https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/kuipoteza-serengeti-ardhi-ya-wamasai-iliyopaswa-kudumu-milele.
In September 2018, the East African Court of Justice awarded a major victory to four Maasai villages fighting for their rights to their land in northern Tanzania. The case revolves around the violent government-led evictions of Maasai villagers in Loliondo in August 2017. The four villages named in the case are legally registered owners of their land. The Court’s ruling prohibits the Tanzanian Government from evicting the Maasai communities from a vital 1500 km2 parcel of land, prohibits the destruction of Maasai homesteads and the confiscation of livestock on this land, and bans the office of the Inspector General of Police from harassing and intimidating the plaintiffs, pending the full determination of their case. The injunction remains in effect until a ruling on the full case concerning the August 2017 evictions can be heard.
Posted on 28 May 2018 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Policy & Power