Ngorongoro: Broken promises - What price our heritage?

The government Ordinance that created the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania confirmed the legal right of Maasai and other smaller tribes to live there as they have for generations. The Area has been granted World Heritage Site status in recognition of its pattern of multiple land use, where people, wildlife and habitat co-exist. But recent years have seen growing pressure to evict the inhabitants and destroy this unique phenomenon. Are 50,000 Maasai, Tatoga and Hadza families and their herds to be evicted from their homeland in Tanzania in the name of conservation? Are they the victims of the flawed idea that people and wildlife cannot co-exist? A draft General Management Plan covering the years 2005 to 2015, produced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, reiterates the responsibility of the NCA in playing ‘a crucial role in supporting the pastoral land use of Ngorongoro District'. This report looks at options for the NCA Authority to meet its legal obligations towards wildlife and natural resources while preserving local people's rights, by formulating a forward strategy that includes pastoral communities in the long-term development of the Area.

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