On 5th June 2024, the European Commission removed Tanzania from the list of countries eligible for its 18 million Euros conservation grant to be launched in East Africa under the name of NaturAfrica Initiative.
This comes in hot heels of the World Bank decision to suspend its funding of a big conservation project back in April 2024.
Elsewhere, the German Development Cooperation stopped its projects in Loliondo in 2023.
The Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA) has been conducting advocacy with the European Union institutions as well as member states which led to this positive outcomes. They alerted them of complicity with human rights abuses.
Tanzania government has used Tourism and conservation as an excuse to systematically target the Maasai for evictions from their ancestral lands.
The violent and oppressive policies of Tanzania government are backed by states and organizations from the global North which is unfortunate.
Conservation funds are being used to created “protected areas” , expand national parks, game reserves and wildlife corridors.
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Organizations such as World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), USAID, Frunkfurt Zoological Society and Royal Safaris Conservation (trophy hunting company) have all been accused of complicity in not only funding but also legitimizing state violence in the name of conservation.
These activities which are funded are far from protecting the environment. They promote violations of indigenous peoples rights, promote hunting and large scale tourism.
Indigenous peoples have special known which can be used for conservation but these people are ignored by the state.
According to MISA, the rule of law is not respected in Tanzania.
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