We all want nature conservation. But not like this.
On June 6, the Tanzanian government announced it would mark out 1,500 square kilometers (579 square miles) in the north of the country, as a reserve. The stated aim was to help protect “the ecological integrity of the entire Great Serengeti.”
However, the new arrangement prohibited residents in the Loliondo division, Ngorongoro district – primarily pastoralist Maasai – from living on the land, using it for grazing, or even entering the area to get water, as they have done for ages.
And no one really asked the Maasai about any of it beforehand, even though proper consultations are required by Tanzanian law.
Since at least 2009, the government has forcibly evicted thousands of people from Loliondo for “conservation,” tourism, and trophy hunting. This recent decision is accelerating the problem of Maasai communities being thrown out of areas they have long inhabited.
And it gets worse.
Tanzanian authorities kicking people off their land are engaging in beatings, shootings, sexual violence, and groundless arrests.
On June 8, two days after the government announcement, dozens of police, military personnel, and game rangers arrived in Loliondo. Over several days, they arrested community leaders and fired teargas and rubber bullets at protesters and bystanders, injuring at least 30, including women, children, and older people.
Since then, security forces have continued to commit abuses against residents, with nightly raids, shootings into homes, and several instances of rape.
They’ve also killed and stolen livestock and destroyed homesteads and animal enclosures.
Up to 2,000 residents from various villages across Loliondo have fled to seek refuge and medical treatment in neighboring Kenya.
The Tanzanian authorities’ violent lawlessness has been devastating for Maasai communities and not only because of the immediate trauma caused by their tactics. The strategy itself – kicking people off their land without consultation and ruining their livelihoods – is putting their culture’s very survival at risk.
Preserving nature is a worthy goal, but wrecking human lives is not the way to go about it.
