Whose conservation, whose development? The Maasai struggle over land in northern Tanzania

In northern Tanzania, Maasai communities in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Loliondo are again facing pressure to leave land they were resettled on decades ago, after being displaced from what's now Serengeti National Park. Global Voices, republishing a Peace News Network piece, reports that authorities frame the move as necessary to protect a strained ecosystem, while Maasai residents and rights advocates call it 'green grabbing' — using conservation as cover to clear land for tourism and investment. The report points to Loliondo's proposed demarcation of fifteen hundred square kilometers of village land as the current flashpoint, with earlier enforcement attempts in 2022 leading to violent clashes, arrests, and a death. The authors argue any lasting solution requires genuine consent and dialogue with Maasai communities, rather than treating them as obstacles to conservation.

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