View from the Termite Mound

Themes: Conservation, FPIC, Human rights, Indigenous people, Pastoralists, Parks, Tourism, Poverty

The Tanzanian government is again preparing to grab grazing land in Loliondo for the benefit of the “investor” and this time it’s the Arusha Regional Commissioner who’s been sent as the messenger. Let’s stop any such plan!

Stealth Game: "Community" Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya

Themes: Conservation, Livlihoods, Indigenous people, Pastoralists, Human rights, Poverty

Stealth Game: “Community” Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya — reveals the devastating impact of privatized and neo-colonial wildlife conservation and safari tourism on Indigenous pastoralist communities.

Fresh atrocities in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the name of “security” and “conservation”

Themes: Conservation, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, Poverty, Human rights

Over the weekend of 12th-14th November 2021, in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, at least two whole Batwa villages were burnt to the ground, a man was shot dead, two women were shot and injured and at least one woman who was pregnant is still unaccounted for and feared burnt alive in her house. Villagers fled into the forest to hide.

Ndumo Game Reserve:

The complicated balancing act of subsistence farming and nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal

Themes: Agriculture, Conservation, Human rights, Livlihoods, Parks, Fisheries, Poverty, Poaching

As cultivated fields expand and grazing cattle explore ever further in the Ndumo Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, researchers worry about unresolved efforts to address human poverty while also trying to protect the ever-shrinking spaces left for wildlife and nature conservation.

Deprived of their forests, Uganda’s Batwa adapt their sustainable practices.

Three decades since the Batwa people in Uganda were evicted from their ancestral lands to create national parks, members of the group live in poverty and marginalization at the fringes of society.

Themes: Agriculture, Conservation, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, Poverty, Human rights

Lack of land rights and access to natural resources has eroded traditional knowledge in the hunter-gatherer community, especially concerning herbal medicine and endemic plant species. Despite these circumstances, some Batwa groups are adopting new conservation practices involving regenerative agriculture on small plots of land donated to them by the United Organisation of Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU).

State of protected areas in Central Africa: 2020

Report provides key recommendations for improving Central African protected areas

Themes: Conservation, Parks, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, Poverty

Dozens of experts explain the current state of the critical biodiversity hot spot, from management to mining

Ndumbaro Makes a Criminally Clueless and Dangerous Statement Urging Hunting Investors to Commit More Crime Against Rural People

On 5th August, the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Damas Ndumbaro, made a most inflammatory statement totally ignoring rule of law, human rights, land rights and common sense.

Themes: Conservation, Hunting, Human rights, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, Parks, Pastoralists, Poverty

The Failure of the Manongi Regime of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority.

And the Maasai as Natural Conservationists

Themes: Conservation, Human rights, Indigenous people, Livlihoods, Pastoralists, Parks, Poverty

By Tubulu Lerug Sokoine Nebasi (Diwani Nje ya Halmashauri/Councillor outside the District Council). (Tubulu is the first guest blogger here at View from the Termite Mound, but any serious voice for Ngorongoro land rights – not least including Loliondo, if anyone would be brave enough - is more than welcome. Susanna)