The court argued that the evictions are lawful, while the government denied all allegations of human rights violations. A final decision has not been made due to interruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Protectors of the Land
This process of snatching ancestral lands to make room for money-generating projects is no new endeavor. Longo says that "what happens today is in continuity with this colonial past. This violence that we see in Tanzania is the reality of conservation in Africa and Asia: Daily violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples and local communities so that the ‘rich’ can hunt and do safaris in peace.”
Maasai ancestral territory, some of which became part of the Tanzanian wildlife conservation areas bordering Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, is of great significance in terms of biodiversity and environmental sustainability. While tourists from across the world view Tanzanian ancestral territory as a Lion King-like landscape that consists of herds of wildebeests, packs of zebras and lions, as well as giraffes and other endangered animals, the Maasai people see it as the motherland in which they are an integral part of its sustainability.
The cultural significance of the land for the indigenous communities that currently occupy the territory, as well as those that have historically done so, combined with its biological importance, especially with regard to threatened and endangered species, makes it a highly sensitive topic pertaining to not only human rights but also to environmental sustainability and diversity.
Human rights groups such as Survival International, the Oakland Institute, and others have actively pushed back against global conservation efforts especially those that displace Indigenous and local communities. Often such abuses are also linked to further violent abuses such as killings, torture, and rape according to InsideClimateNews.
As such, the UAE firm, and subsequently the Royal family, as well as the Tanzanian government, will not only be threatening the continuity and sustainability of the Maasai people but also the future of the region amid a global environmental crisis. Climate change and biodiversity are integral to each other and by threatening the latter, any decision also prevents global advance in environmental goals of sustainability.
Part 2 - End