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    maasai

    ​Maasai herders watch their cattle in Tanzania.

    Instead of a Climate Villain, Livestock Can Be a Solution With Legs

    For places where livestock is deeply embedded in livelihoods and culture, it is critical to see these farm animals from our perspective and help channel climate and biodiversity finance into their potential as a force for good.

    Ali Mohamed
    Oct 08, 2024

    Livestock are a vital component of both the African food system and rural livelihoods. The continent has around 400 million cattle alone, and the livestock sector accounts for a significant 30-40% of the total agricultural gross domestic product across the continent.

    Small amounts of meat, milk and eggs can have life-changing benefits in tackling malnutrition, and these animals also provide a reliable income source when alternatives simply do not readily exist.

    Keep ReadingShow Less
    Opinion
    climate emergency
    Maasai blocking highway.

    ‘This Is Our Last Resort’: The Maasai’s Struggle for Land Rights in Northern Tanzania

    If designating areas as World Heritage Sites endangers the survival of Indigenous peoples in African countries, UNESCO and IUCN’s outdated, colonial, and top-down approach to conservation must be dismantled immediately.

    Soleil-Chandni Mousseau
    Sep 04, 2024

    In the early morning of August 18, the safari cars that usually creep along the Ngorongoro-Serengeti highway, slowed by their sheer numbers, encountered a different challenge. Thousands of Maasai men and women, draped in red-patterned Shuka cloth and waving grass, a symbol of peace, were blocking the highway.

    They were staging a peaceful protest against the Tanzanian government’s latest ruthless attempt to forcibly evict them from their ancestral lands. The police, wary of using violence in front of international tourists as they had in neighboring Loliondo in 2022, resorted to intimidation tactics instead, blocking vehicles carrying food and water from Karatu to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to weaken the resolve of the demonstrators.

    Keep ReadingShow Less
    Opinion
    maasai
    ​Maasai herders watch their cattle in Tanzania.

    Evictions Disguised as Conservation: Voices from the Land That Was to Run Forever

    In recent years, the resilient and courageous Maasai communities of Tanzania have been faced with a challenge previously unmatched—“fortress” conservation.

    Soleil-Chandni Mousseau
    Aug 26, 2023

    “[The elders] say we are the Maasai warriors. But we have never been in a war like this.” – A Maasai Leader, Loliondo, Tanzania

    We journeyed through the dirt tracks in the middle of the savanna—the vibrant crimson of the Maasai shukas making cardinal dots in the arid landscape. Zebras grazed in polyphony with cows, and the occasional giraffe paced gracefully, stretching its freckled neck towards the sky. Wildebeest and gazelles stampeded through the lands, a cloud of dust trailing behind them.

    From the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the landscapes of northern Tanzania are mesmerizing. The Ngorongoro Crater, often referred to as the “eighth wonder of the world,” is a natural marvel—a massive volcanic caldera teeming with wildlife amidst many shades of lush golden hues. But what made this journey both heartfelt and heartbreaking was my time with the Indigenous Maasai who have traditionally inhabited the area, which in their mother tongue Maa is described as “the lands that run forever.” The complex but harmonious relationship between living creatures here is striking; the Maasai do not hunt the wild animals residing in the bush—they share the land with them.

    Keep ReadingShow Less
    Opinion
    indigenous rights

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