Science Magazine Article with Huge Media Coverage, Anti-Loliondo Co-Author, and a not so Hidden Wish to Influence the Tanzanian Government

In this blog post:

Article in Science Magazine

Summary of Osero developments of the past decades (important for newcomers)

Like all blog posts this one is delayed, since among other problems, at the same time I had to write about the District Security Officer who’s been charged with corruption, and about the JWTZ soldier brutality that recently led to the death of 26-year old footballer Yohana “Babuche” Saidea. Probably over thirty articles have now been published about the Science Magazine article “Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem”, and none of them include any criticism at all, so my delay is unacceptable. I wish more people could have a critical look at it. My post is from a perspective of land rights and human rights in Loliondo.

Why now?

On 29^th March, Science Magazine published an article titled Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (behind a paywall, but there are easy ways of opening it), about which the Director of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Simon Mduma, says (apparently in a press release, since it shows up in several newspaper articles from around the world, and at a press conference in Arusha), 

"These results come at the right time, as the Tanzanian government is now taking important steps to address these issues on a national level,". 

Bomas Razed by Serengeti National Park Rangers and Loliondo Administrative Police

A large number of bomas in areas of Arash and Loosoito/Maaloni have been burned by TANAPA and thousands of people left without food or shelter.

Exact details have been very difficult to come by.

The “investor-friendly”* group is worse than ever.

I should have published a blog post a week ago, but have had serious problems getting exact information. Now it has to be posted. (Updated below in purple.  It's been found that the bomas were inside the established park boundary, and some also inside another, unidentified, boundary. It has to be investigated if the unidentified boundary could have become the legal boundary.)

The Beacons from Hell

The most recent efforts by the Tanzanian government to grab a “corridor” of land from the people of Loliondo

The threat of a corridor of extension of Serengeti National Park onto village land in Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro District has again reared its ugly head. On 20^th November 2012 villagers from Ololosokwan went to Klein’s Gate and it was established that Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) were planning to put border beacons – that had been brought and were being stored - far inside land belonging to the village. They already tried this in 2008 and then the beacons were destroyed by angry villagers, some of whom were arrested for a few hours until fellow villagers forced their release. Through the years TANAPA have tried many bad tricks and then there have been times of uneventful coexistence. Similar attempts at expanding borders are going on around most protected areas in Tanzania.