Untold Story of the Ngorongoro District
By Onesmo P.K Olengurumwa
Conflicts have arisen over land use in the past and these have often been resolved by moving the offending community or forbidding access to specific areas. E.g. the movement of communities out of the Ngorongoro Crater. Land use plans at the community level have not been developed and there are ongoing conflicts over land use for agriculture that continues to simmer without any real resolution.
Agricultural use of NCA land has been a contentious issue for a considerable amount of time. The Maasai claim that the local climate is less favorable to livestock which suffers reduced milk yields and is made more vulnerable to disease. The reduced availability of milk and livestock obliges them to supplement their food supply by cultivation..
Recently UNESCO declared to unlist Ngorongoro Crater from the list of the World classified Heritage sites. If global governance over national resources becomes reality, there will be no place for indigenous to hide. To respond to UNESCO Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige surprisingly said,
"We have already directed the Ngorongoro Authority to conduct census for both human population and livestock in the areas so that we can take appropriate measures,"
In 1972 United Nation Conference on human environment came up with the declaration commonly called Stockholm Declaration with 26 principles on international environmental law. The link between human being and environmental protection is clearly established by principles 1, 16 and 21 of the Stockholm Declaration provide a freedom of states to freely use their resources without any environmental damage and without infringing any human basic rights.
Both Rio de Janeiro and Stockholm declarations advocate for permanent sovereignty over natural resources. The United Nations had once vehemently spoke of the right to Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources by G.A. res. 1803 (XVII), 17 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No.17) at 15, U.N. Doc. A/5217 (1962). Paragraph one declares that the right of peoples and nations to permanent sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources must be exercised in the interest of their national development and of the well being of the people of the State concerned. In Ngorongoro division people have been forcefully evicted and damped at Oldosambu ward without being provided with any social services.
The worshiped OBC and the Loliondo Saga
OBC in 1992 was granted the land without people’s consultation and District council signed on behalf of villages. The above act of District councils amounts to violation of constitutional rights. The situation is further complicated by the multiplicity of policy, legal and institutional mandates surrounding the Loliondo Game Controlled Area.
Babiker says the existing policies and legal institutional framework were put in place in 1950s and the tensions between the state legislations in Sudan and customary land regimes and continual grabbing of land and displacement of pastoralists was leading for conflicts among pastoralists, commercial farmers, sedentary farmers and state security forces.
The director of wildlife has more power to grant concession for exclusive hunting rights without involving villagers .Practically this has taken place in Loliondo where the whole LGC area was granted to OBC and left indigenous as squatters on their land.OBC hunting activities have long struggled to get accommodated within traditional grazing patterns of pastoralists in the area, which struggle has at times precipitated into sore relationships and open conflicts.
The land leased to OBC and the other sold to Thomson Safari in Loliondo are seasonal migrated corridors. The same situation was found taking place in Sudan whereby most of the pastoralist seasonal migrated corridors were granted to investors from U.A.E, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
It is not at all surprising that resource-based conflicts should constitute one of the major development challenges in Ngorongoro. Indeed, this is consistent with the reality all over the dry lands of Africa where conflict has become endemic. In a global review of pastoralism and conflict, have shown how areas occupied by pastoralists are characterised by conflicts emanating from competition for natural resources.
The situation in Ngorongoro District is defined by competition for access to land and natural resources underpinned by competing land uses and livelihoods. The land use competition, which often translates into conflict, can be classified into four major categories.
The allocation of hunting blocks is done by the Director of Wildlife in exercise of powers that are not clearly regulated under the Wildlife Conservation Act. In fact, complaints have been raised to the effect that “in practice, the allocation of hunting blocks has reflected the Director's personal whim rather than the consistent application of” guidelines. The village Land Act makes it legally for village lands to be alienated to non village private investor it has a potential for further approbation of common land and privatization.
Chachage and Shivji (2001) concede that liberalization has prompted high marginalization of the rural poor as a lot of pieces of land are being alienated from peasants and pastoralists. Thus causing conflicts over natural resources.
Peter Maina says the 1997 Tanzania investment Act has some glaring weakness like liberation of economy hailed as policy that will open avenues through which the local and foreign investors would walk together to prosperity but this has not been achieved because the law is silent on the joint ventures and obligations to investors.Maina went ahead reiterating that investors in Tanzania have been given red carpet treatment.
The livelihoods of members of the Maasai pastoral community within the Loliondo Game controlled area in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region has of late become threatened by the antics of a certain foreign hunting company operating in the area (OBC).According to FEM ACT report the malicious and ruthless operation to evict the maasai communities was alleged to have affected eight Villages of the Loliondo division. The alleged villages were left in Unimaginable distress and utter poverty. The report further elaborates among other inhuman acts such as rape and torture; the Loliondo communities are alleged to have lost their properties and loved ones. It was alleged that more than two hundred Maasai bomas were totally burnt; women were raped; more than 3000 people left homeless without food and other social basic needs and more than 50,000 cattle were left with no grass and water.
Speaking during interviews with journalists and activists under the FemAct coalition, the villagers said they have been forced out of the villages they have lived in for years, into bone-dry areas with hardly any water or pasture for their livestock. “We are now living in extreme poverty and not sure of our future, since we solely depend on livestock for our survival. It is just a matter of time before our cattle all die due to lack of water and grazing areas,” said Ephraim Kaura, an elder from Ololosokwan Village.
LGCA occupies 41 per cent while Ngorongoro conservation was allocated 59 per cent of the total land in the district. This meant that the land in Ngorongoro District is for wildlife purposes. An unlawful occupation by Maasai was alleged by Government officials to be main reasons for the malicious and awful operation in Loliondo. In 983, the villages within the district were also registered legally? Then it’s ridiculous to here such allegations from government officials.
One thing in Loliondo remained to be a riddle to many people, is a question as to whether OBC camp is a state within a state or a diplomatic area. It looks fishy within a certain part of a sovereignty country to receive phone massage invites you to another State. For strict proof thereof see the following massage text received from Loliondo OBC premises.
“Dear Guest, Welcome to the UAE. Enjoy the best network coverage and other unmatched services only with Etisalat. Please use<+> or <00>before the country code for international calls. For directory services call 181, for availability of GPRS, MMS 3G roaming services call Etisalat Travellers help line 8002300 & for inquiries on Tourism, entertainment, shopping, etc call 7000-1-7000(Roaming rates apply) Have a pleasant stay in the UAE”
The extent of adorations extended further to the issues of security, OBCis guarded by the Tanzanian police and the entire security system since 1992.The above situation was well discovered by Fem ACT coalition team which visited Loliondo to probe the matter on 18th-19th August 2009, and found that OBC is a company registered under the Tanzanian companies Act, Cap.112 which in turn makes it a Tanzanian citizen required to abide by the Tanzanian laws or whether it belongs to a Sovereign state having diplomatic relations within the country.
That being not enough many Maasai men have been brutality beaten and maliciously prosecuted. Human rights NGO’s operating in Ngorongoro have been vehemently condemned by the government official as trouble mongers.To show how much we adore investors in Tanzania, the minister for tourism and natural resources intentionally mislead the world by saying the Maasai violently evicted at LGCA are Kenyans. To put more weight on her statement and to prove that no good governance in Tanzania the same minister during 17th parliamentary sessions(2009) told the assembly that no any violations of human rights took place in Loliondo.
The District is rich of natural resources but surprisingly the people on the land still live in extreme poverties. This is what Ragna Tarvick and others baptized it as Resource curse. They found that resource curse represents enormous impediments to development, yet it is important to understand that natural resources is not a problem, rather it is lack of good governance and democracy. Therefore remedying this institutional failure Ragna. says we need change of law and practice but doesn’t require huge resource investment.Conclusion
It is therefore sounds easy to say that despite the fact that Ngorongoro is rich in natural resources, still there is bleak future for its people. Many people know the district only because of its wonders. The district is famous in natural resources and internationally recognized. This article enables the reader to get the other side of the story about the District and its people. The district is taking a lead in violations of human rights in Tanzania. This article summarizes the trend of violations of human rights in Ngorongoro from 1959 up 2009. Villagers want back their ancestral land both for their survival as well as for the sustainability of their livelihood system. They want to fairly benefit from the natural resources in their areas. The community demands restitution for the loss that has been incurred in the process of the ruthless operation by OBC. Further, there is a strong demand for the government’s accountability in all decisions that impact on the livelihood of the people.
Tourism industry sets the standard on climate change
By Apolinari Tairo
BEING one among the largest and fast growing economic sector in the world, tourism has been affected by climate change, raising an alarm to global travel stakeholders over the future of the sector.
In 2009, the travel and tourism economy is expected to account for 9.3 percent of the global GDP and to generate over 210 million jobs, or 7.4 percent of global employment. In 2008, 922 million international tourist arrivals were recorded, contributing US dollars 944 billion in international tourism receipts.
The industry has often acted ahead of regulation to adopt and disseminate standards and best practices on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and adaptation.
The sustainability of the travel and tourism industry and that of the environment are mutually dependent.
Using its role as an international conduit for peace and prosperity, the industry is actively engaged in the protection of fragile ecosystems and indigenous communities and contributes towards the successful advancement of the UN Millennium Development Goals, especially poverty alleviation in developing countries.
Travel and tourism’s far-reaching benefits position it as a leading player in a strong, united, global effort at combating climate change.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) are, respectively, the leading private and public sector entities within travel and tourism.
WTTC is the business leaders’ forum for 100 of the foremost travel and tourism industry companies, while UNWTO is a specialized UN agency, with a membership of over 150 countries and some 400 private and public tourism stakeholders.
Working together, the two world bodies are aligning efforts to unify a fragmented travel and tourism industry, speaking with one voice on the critical issue of climate change.
In order to show their commitment, both organizations will jointly host a side event during the COP-15 negotiations on December 18: Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change – Perspectives from the Travel and Tourism Sector.
The event will highlight innovators from the private and public sector from across the world and all sectors of the industry. Under the leadership of WTTC and UNWTO, examples of best practice will be presented in order to communicate to policy-makers and the rest of the industry travel and tourism’s proactive approach to carbon emissions’ mitigation and adaptation.
A sound framework is critical for the travel and tourism industry to give companies the transparency necessary to make informed investment decisions, many of which can strongly influence a nation’s economic development. The Copenhagen Agreement provides a unique opportunity to set the foundation upon which a resilient green economy can be developed.
“UNWTO’s Davos Declaration Process on climate change response paved the way to position the tourism industry as a relevant player of global climate neutrality,” said UNWTO Secretary-General ad interim Taleb Rifai.
“Joining forces for tourism to speak as one in Copenhagen responds furthermore to a key recommendation of the UNWTO Roadmap for Recovery, highlighting the importance of building a strong public-private dialogue and boosting strong partnerships.
The great cross-cutting impact of our industry makes it necessary to establish and maintain this close collaboration,” he added, “and I am confident that together we will contribute to a better positioning of travel and tourism in the global climate response agenda.”
Public and private sector partnership in this issue is essential.
“The travel and tourism industry urges global leaders in the wake of the Copenhagen Agreement – regardless of its final form – to actively engage the private sector in translating the internationally-agreed framework into transparent, supportive, and progressive national and regional policies,” Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC president and CEO, stressed.
“The travel and tourism private sector has always sought a deeper working relationship with governments, and the anticipated Copenhagen Agreement will provide an excellent opportunity to further develop this relationship.”
The travel and tourism industry has, in the past, developed and will continue to develop sustainable solutions, which will assist the industry to be at the forefront of efforts to combat climate change and will play a much-needed role in terms of exchange of innovative technology to advance carbon emissions’ reduction.
Incentives and policies, as well as global sectoral approaches, supported by a level playing field void of restrictions to trade, will allow the industry to efficiently pursue the scale of change for progressive transformation to occur. Only then can the true potential of the industry be unlocked.
Dubai gets bailout from Abu Dhabi
By Apolinari Tairo
DUBAI got a US$ 10 billion lifeline from oil-rich Abu Dhabi to save one of its prized companies from imminent default Monday, calming fears for now about the city-state's shaky finances, said the Associated Press.
Dubai's main stock market spiked more than 10 percent on the news reported by local and international press.
Local news said that the Dubai World, a sprawling conglomerate with assets ranging from the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 to luxury retailer Barney's New York, had been up against a Monday deadline to repay a pile of loans from its Nakheel property division.
Some US$ 4.1 billion of the emergency funds will be used to pay off those bills. The rest will go to shore up Dubai World itself.
Dubai after all, was neither recession-proof nor immune to the global downturn. Just one out of the seven state members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai has shown cracks. Dubai has clearly caught up with the world recession despite previous denials and claims that it was business as usual.
The leaders of Dubai are reluctant to bear Dubai World's US$ 60 billion debts that had raised serious concerns about the emirate's creditworthiness.
Abu Dhabi’s action to bailout sister city Dubai appears aimed at allaying fears that more is to happen, before they undercut confidence in the United Arab Emirates as a whole. The two emirates share control of the UAE, a federation of seven semiautonomous city-states.
Abu Dhabi has oil; Dubai has become non-oil dependent for several decades and has made tourism and hospitality their economic engines. Dubai has flourished doing so until the series of world economic events.
Until the middle of last year, Dubai had shown little willingness to accept the fact that it too has been hit by the crisis. Economic and hotel real estate experts based there led people to believe Dubai was very much in control though there were signs of the slowdown.
Even contrary to forecasts made by top real estate advisory groups such as Jones Lang LaSalle who insisted that the markets of the Middle East will outperform all other regions of the world in the next 1 to 2 years.
The company even polled 350 top developers who believed late 2008/ early 2009 that the UAE stood to offer the best performing real estate market if not in the Middle East, then in the world.
Jones Lang LaSalle even released a first official Investor Sentiment Survey at the CityScape Dubai. The study was sent out in the aftermath of the crash of US Investment Bank and Lehman Brothers.
It highlighted the fact that almost 50 percent of those surveyed believe the UAE will offer the best performing real estate market over this year and the next, saying investors are confident about the future performance of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi markets.
Into the first quarter of 2009, Dubai had started its slide, as with the rest of the universe. In reality, the so-called City of Gold was losing its manpower behind which the economy was built. Hordes of expatriate workers lost their jobs and were forcibly sent home.
Visas were no longer renewed. Dubai cancelled over 86 percent more residence visas early 2009. Data from Dubai’s Ministry of Interior Naturalization & Residency (DNRD) showed that 54,684 residency visas were cancelled during the month of January, compared with 29,418 in January 2008. They were losing people at a rate of 1,764 visas per day.
A Dubai-based analyst said the aid package was to be expected but urged caution. Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, also the ruler of Dubai, tried to save Dubai with the merger of three large real-estate groups of Dubai Holding, which he owns.
The Sheikh has a strong handle on the way his emirate runs from all standpoints--economic, financial, government, practically everything that reflects image and finances. However, in the end, Abu Dhabi’s bailout was inevitable.
Additionally, "This announcement constitutes a specific bailout of Nakheel, suggesting that as an entity (it) was deemed to be 'too big to fail,'" he said. "It does not, however, constitute a bailout of Dubai Inc. or Dubai World as a whole and this is important to highlight," said Fahd Iqbal.
Nakheel, a property developer and hotel operator best known for building manmade islands in the shape of palm trees and a map of the world off Dubai's coast, is central to this package.
Nakheel is the developer of more than US$ 30 billion in real estate in Dubai, and The Trump Organization had signed on the deal with Nakheel in October 2005 creating Trump’s International Hotel and Tower.
Both companies have invested substantially in the pioneering US$ 600 million development spread across a portfolio of eight hotels and resorts including the 800-unit condo-hotel of the US mogul.
Trump’s tower was the initial development in Nakheel and The Trump Organization's exclusive joint-venture in the Middle East. However, Trump Organization's agreement with Nakheel including exclusive rights for 19 countries in the Middle East region and 17 major brands went south.
Authorities also softened their stance Monday, vowing that the city-state was committed to "transparency, good governance and market principles."
Officials outlined a legal framework that promised to increase openness and protect creditors in future dealings with the conglomerate, offering lenders further reassurance in a country where formal bankruptcy proceedings are largely untested, said the news – a thing that Dubai has been working on since showing signs of the real estate market collapse middle of this year.