This week news broke that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is working to seize the Maasai people’s land to make room for UAE tourism and trophy hunting in Tanzania. The Maasai have resided in the region since the 17th century, living off the land and conserving wildlife. The Tanzanian government’s willingness to create this new wildlife corridor for hunting shows a greater focus on the economy than conservation and ethics. This project puts a price on the lives of humans and animals in the region simply for increased revenue from foreign governments.

The irony here is that this project is sought after because of the culture and wildlife in Tanzania. But once that’s gone because of exploitation and overdeveloped tourism, what is the country left with?

A Timeline of the Maasai Eviction

The Tanzanian government got behind this initiative on January 11, 2022, and is working to seize 1500 km2 and relocate the villages from their ancestral land starting at the end of February 2022. This comes after the Tanzanian government rejected this proposal from the royal family of Dubai back in 2012. This long-time threat that’s been looming over the indigenous communities of East Africa feels more real now than ever.

"That the Maasai are once again facing eviction to please the UAE royal family shows the Tanzanian government continues to prioritize tourism revenues at the expense of the Indigenous pastoralists who have sustainably stewarded the area for generations." 

said Anuradha Mittal, author of Losing the Serengeti

This move violates human rights by making indigenous communities out to be indispensable to the government. This is yet another example of how when we push people to the side, it’s impossible even to begin thinking about conserving land or wildlife. By conserving people first, we keep ecosystems intact.

However, in a world where money is placed higher than morality, it should come as no surprise that unethical tourism practices are so widespread. This time, at the expense of 70,000 people’s lives and countless wildlife.

This development may cause Tanzania to fall to a similar fate that Kenya suffered after allowing more land privatization and corruption within their system. This has effectively increased droughts in the country and pushed Maasai people off their land due to overwhelming infrastructural growth to accommodate tourism.

"I know the next victim will be me. Moved, displaced, and evicted."

said a Maasai villager residing in Tanzania

The Future of Conservation in Tanzania

Conservation has long benefited from raising funds, and much of this comes from tourism. However, now, we must consider if tourism is harming conservation efforts in certain regions more than it is helping.

The value of indigenous communities within wildlife and environmental conservation outweighs that of tourism when we consider the effectiveness of protecting wild populations. If we continue to prioritize tourism over indigenous communities, the resounding impact we will see on global efforts will be tragic.

We cannot go on like this. Allowing corruption into the conservation world takes the focus off ethics and puts it onto profits, which we may never be able to come back from.