SUNDAY September 13, 2024
By The Tranquility News Reporter, Tanzania
Whoever suspects relocating inhabitants of Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to villages or townships of their choices across Tanzania has an ulterior motive should think again.
The voluntary relocation programme is two-pronged. It seeks to fill yawning inequality gaps among inhabitants of the area while conserving the World Heritage Site.
As such, the programme is in line with the Arusha Manifesto, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as conventions the Tanzania government has ratified and domesticated.
Goals number one to six, for instance, call for eradication of poverty and hunger, improving health and wellbeing, providing quality education, promoting gender equality, supplying clean and safe water, and maintaining sanitary conditions.
In addition, goals number 13 and 15 require countries to conserve ecosystems in a bid to limit and adapt to climate change.
Tanzania had devised a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) and a Climate Change Response Strategy way back in 2007 and 2021, respectively.
The UN, intergovernmental and civil society organisations and other players have not only been advocating for such initiatives, but also holding states to account for failure of executing them.
Surprisingly, there has been a lot of hype sponsored by some of the very international players lately, spreading a skewed narrative to spark mass hysteria towards the programme.
The flimflam, which accuses the programme of evicting Maasai pastoralists from their ‘ancestral land’ at gun point, calls into question the motive behind its clamour.
In fact, the end justified the means for Maasai to dominate the NCA after their battle with Datoga ethnic group between 1836 and 1851, if Monique Mulder, Daniela Sieff, and Momoya Merus’ account is anything to go by.
Unlike the coercive approach Maasai applied against Datoga then, an awareness campaign is at the heart of the programme, giving room to members of ethnic groups inhabiting the area to weigh between advantages and disadvantages of relocating to other areas.
Besides missing the comfort zone, other disadvantages of the programme are incomprehensible to most average thinking persons, particularly those relocated from their ‘ancestral lands’ to Ujamaa villages early in 1970s.
Otherwise, an inhabitant of the area convinced with the programme is assured of securing a two-acre plot for resettlement, a three-bedroom house connected to electricity, a five-acre farm, and a 22-hectare communal land for pasture, all accompanied with title deeds.
He will also have a stress-free access to education, health, water, road and other social services he not only used to travel long distances in search for them, but also contend with lions and buffalos on his way to and from the facilities.
Women relocated elsewhere also benefit from the programme as heads of their families.
The motive of the critics of the programme begs more questions than answers, given the NCA inhabitants were consulted in large numbers in 2014 when the existing multiple land use model comprising wildlife, conservation, pastoralism, and tourism was being reviewed.
About 3,000 out of 4,000 people consulted during the review of the model included traditional leaders, women, and youth from 25 villages of the area as well as their councillors, village chairpersons, and village, ward and division executive officers.
Overarching goal of the review was to enhance conservation of natural and cultural heritage resources, welfare of the host communities and to boost tourism receipts.
The NCA abounds with poverty; hunger; poor health condition; drought; illiteracy; gender inequality; human wildlife conflicts; inadequate access to water for people, livestock and wildlife; ecological imbalance; and uncontrolled tourism activities, to mention but a few.
Over 60 per cent of inhabitants of the area invaded by at least 10 invasive species as a result of the model are illiterate. In 2017/18 alone, about 77,000 cows were lost to drought in the area.
The critics would have done the programme a favour had they recommended alternative approaches for relieving the NCA of the pressure compounded by the growing population of people and livestock.
Going by the Tanzania Bureau of Statistics census, the number of the NCA inhabitants rose from barely 8,000 during its inception in 1959 to over 93,000 in 2017, equivalent to 1,062.2 per cent increase.
Immigrants were partly to blame for the population growth which, at 3.5 rate, is expected to double come 2032, inhibiting the capacity of authorities overseeing the area from providing food relief and other amenities.
The number of cattle also increased from 161,000 to 238,800 in 2017 while that of goats and sheep jumped from 100,600 to 570,600, equivalent to 48.3 per cent and 466.7 per cent increase, respectfully.
As they poke holes in the programme, the critics should consider recommending alternative approaches for uplifting the welfare of the inhabitants and livestock, and for conserving natural and cultural resources.
“The survival of our wildlife is a matter of grave concern to all of us in Africa. These wild creatures amid the wild places they inhabit are not only important as a source of wonder and inspiration, but are an integral part of our natural resources and our future livelihood and well being. In accepting the trusteeship of our wildlife we solemnly declare that we will do everything in our power to make sure that our children’s grand-children will be able to enjoy this rich and precious inheritance.
The conservation of wildlife and wild places calls for specialist knowledge, trained manpower and money, and we look to other nations to co-operate with us in this important task – the success or failure of which not only affects the continent of Africa but the rest of the world as well,” Julius K. Nyerere, Arusha Manifesto, 1961.
The UNESCO designations of a Mixed World Heritage Site, Man and Biosphere Reserve, and Global Geopark will be in jeopardy if the multiple land use model in place is left uncheckedΩ
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The Tranquility News Reporter/Sub Editor, Tanzania
Patty Magubira is an experienced environmental and business editor whose career started at the Tanzania's state-owned newspaper - The Daily News. He is a man of perfection. Aided by his extensive training as a community forestry expert before joining Tanzania School of Journalism. Magubira had successfully held various key posts in newsrooms, giving him an unmatched connections in media fraternity. Having worked as a bureau chief in Arusha and Mwanza, he managed to build a team work, boosting sales to the highest level ever. He was then promoted to a sub-editor after completing a training in Nairobi, Kenya. His incredible experience, critical thinking and exposure are critical to the quality of any media outlet.
