"The Mountain of God Ol'doinyo Lengai to the Maasai is an active volcano rising sharply a few kilometers from the town of Engare Sero in northern Tanzania. At its base lies Lake Natron, a shimmering salt lake. It's considered the most important breeding site for 75% of the global population of lesser flamingos. But it's also an important site for Maasai people, who consider parts of it their ancestral land. Now, some fear another mass eviction is coming."
""I was forced to flee my home. They turned the area where I lived into the Pololeti hunting reserve," says 36-year-old Nesikar Daudi, now living in Engare Sero. In 2022, the Tanzanian government established the Pololeti Game Reserve, and designated it exclusively for hunting and tourism. Thousands of people, like Nesikar were directly affected or even forcibly evicted. "We suffered a lot because of this takeover. We lost our livestock, and bulldozers demolished our homes," Nesikar says."
Ol'doinyo Lengai rises near Engare Sero in northern Tanzania above Lake Natron, a critical breeding site for about 75% of the world's lesser flamingos. Maasai communities regard surrounding lands as ancestral territory. In 2022 the government created the Pololeti Game Reserve for hunting and tourism, resulting in forced evictions, destroyed homes, and lost livestock for many Maasai families. Since the 1990s protected areas have expanded by roughly 20%. Critics say conservation rhetoric masks economic interests in tourism and trophy hunting, and a law permitting reclassification for "public interest" enables top-down decisions without community consultation.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]