Ngorongoro Maasai to be evicted

The Oakland Institute has brought out a new report on pastoralists in northern Tanzania: The looming threat of eviction: the continued displacement of the Maasai under the guise of conservation in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) (2021, 32pp). It reveals the Tanzanian Government’s plans to evict 82,000 residents – mostly Maasai – from their land. This was announced in April 2021 as part of the Government’s multiple land-use management and resettlement plan developed to address the concerns of international conservation agencies and to generate tourism revenue for Tanzania.

The plan is to expand the NCA from 8,100 km2 to 12,083 km2 by including parts of Loliondo Game Controlled Area (GCA), already contested in the East African Court of Justice, and Lake Natron GCA. It would create new restricted areas where the Maasai would be denied access for housing, livestock grazing and cultivation, and recommends abandonment of nine settlements.

The plan estimates that over 40,000 “destitute and very poor pastoralists” will be “interested” to move out voluntarily. But the resettlement plan overlooks how current restrictions around grazing have limited the Maasai’s access to pasture and led to their destitution, leaving them with little choice but to “volunteer”.

The Oakland Institute’s report dismantles myths, including that of “rising population” used to justify the eviction of the Maasai, and reveals how this plan was created without considering the needs of local residents and proper consultation.

The local communities are calling for a stop to further evictions and want an independent and participatory commission to be set up to recommend the best way forward to improve local livelihoods while ensuring the continued sustainability of the NCA’s ecology and wildlife.

Posted on 20 June 2021 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Policy & Power, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition