10.2 Chapter Story

Aimee Samara Krouskop; Kimberly Puttman

10.2 Chapter Story

Aimee Samara Krouskop and Kimberly Puttman

PROTECTING PEOPLE AND PLANET IN TANZANIA: THE POWER OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

a person with dark skin, wearing earrings, and an orange wrap stands in sandals watching a herd of goats. they are surrounded by a landscape of red soil and acacia trees of Kenya. — **Figure 10.1** For many years Maasai communities have lived, farmed, and cared for their animals beside the Serengeti National Park in Kenya. In recent years, the Tanzanian government has forced their evictions. What is lost as they leave their ancestral territory?

One characteristic of studying social change is that we often see extraordinary solutions arise from seemingly impossible social problems. For example, as environmental changes force us all to explore new ways of being, interacting, and supporting our existence, we see many social movements responding to that need, from forest protection to anti-consumerism to carbon footprint reduction movements. But how skilled are we at navigating the complexity of these responses? To what extent are we considering the whole of our global society as we choose initiatives to protect both the environment and people (figure 10.1).

Tania Roa is someone who has struggled with these questions. She began her studies in wildlife conservation, but one day she realized that to care for wildlife responsibly, she needed to better understand how humans, animals, and the health of our planet are connected. Watch Tania’s 10:05-minute TED Talk (figure 10.2) to hear her story and her thoughts. As you watch, please consider:

What are some intersecting issues related to our environmental crisis?
What intersecting institutions does Roa mention?
What themes from previous chapters can you see reflected in her talk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FAMEtVztY

Figure 10.2 “How to Protect People and the Planet” [Streaming Video]. Transcript.

Roa presents the deep interconnections between climate and environmental protection. She also explains how efforts to protect biodiversity can lead to the exploitation of humans and animals. A key example Roa shares is the ongoing eviction of four Maasai village communities by the Tanzanian government, despite their having land ownership titles. (Optional: Read more about the Maasai here [Website].)

Before British colonizers arrived in East Africa in the early 1800s, the Maasai territory stretched 200,000 square miles across what is now known as Kenya and Tanzania (Meitamei 2010). Today there are 12 subtribes of the community. While each is different politically and culturally, there are commonalities (Evangelou 1984). Distinctly, Maasai people depend on cattle to meet their food, clothing, and shelter needs. Cattle also represent their fundamental currency, with families seeking to accumulate large herds to demonstrate their wealth and status.

Ole Riamit, a leader of a Maasai community in Kenya, shares how integral cattle and the land was to his life as a boy:

Every time I had a break at school, I was herding cattle. I learned which pasture is healthy; which one is poisonous; which one helps cows produce more milk; which one is medicinal. So one of my identities is being connected to the landscape—the savanna pasture land of East Africa (Jones 2022).

However, colonization by both Britain and Germany and the creation of game reserves and other protected areas have evicted many Maasai communities, restricting access to their land and traditional way of life (“The People That Made Ngorongoro a Very Good Place Is Us” n.d.).

In Tanzania, the Ololosokwan, Oloirien, Kirtalo, and Arash Maasai live, farm, graze, and tend their animals adjacent to the Serengeti National Park (figures 10.1 and 10.3). For many years, they have endured ongoing disputes with the government regarding the boundaries of their territory. In 2021 the Tanzanian government announced their interest in leasing the territory to a company based in the United Arab Emirates for wildlife trophy hunting and elite tourism (Sutherland 2022).

In 2022, hundreds of government security personnel demarcated 1,500 square kilometers within Maasai territory and began forcing them to evict. They shot and tear-gassed Maasai members who resisted, with many fleeing to Kenya to hide in the wilderness. At least 40 people were injured, one security officer was killed, and an 84-year-old Maasai member was found to be missing after being shot (“Tanzania: Authorities Brutally Violated Maasai amid Forced Evictions from Ancestral Lands” 2023).

Two young people with dark skin wear red cloth by a verdant village with thatch roofs. — **Figure 10.3** Maasai communities face ongoing disputes with the Tanzanian government regarding the boundaries of their territory.

The Tanzanian government states they are concerned that the population growth of the Maasai communities, along with the impacts of their increasing herds, threatens wildlife in the park. Indeed, the number of Maasai living adjacent to the park now reaches more than 100,000 compared to 8,000 in 1959. Their livestock population has grown alongside them (Jeannin 2022).

However, core to Maasai culture is a remarkable way of existing in a symbiotic relationship with nature.

For example, Riamit shares that it’s taboo to eat wildlife if one has a cow that is giving milk: “You cannot pride yourself on eating game meat. The girls will run away from you. You’re not a respected warrior. Why go kill an antelope when you have an animal in the shed?” (Jones 2022).

Land and water are treated as common resources and shared equally among Maasai people. This has traditionally allowed them to move freely across “Maasailand” and employ a rotating system for moving their herds.

This system is beneficial in several ways. It allows them to adapt to variable rain patterns. During severe droughts, grazing may be extended into marginal lands that would otherwise be rarely used. Rotational herding also creates areas of different kinds of pasture and habitat, reducing conflict between wildlife and livestock (Kleczka 2021; Parks 2019).

While the wisdom of Maasai pastoralism stands on its own, their healthy land management is noted by Western nature conservationists. Many credit the Maasai people for the growth of biodiversity under their stewardship and see no scientific basis to restrict Maasai land (Nelson 2012).

Must the solution to such conflicts be the displacement of communities from their ancestral way of life and the loss of such caretakers of the land? Must the solution involve the lease of property to a foreign company that will offer access only to elite foreigners? Many concerned with human rights and social justice think otherwise, pointing to evictions like the Maasai experience as land grabs.

An aerial photo of a jaguar crossing a lush green plain alongside the eco-label "Certified Jaguar Friendly" — **Figure 10.4** The Jaguar Friendly certification label is given to coffee growers who practice land management that provides habitat for jaguars and their prey. This program serves as an alternative to conservation at the expense of Indigenous Peoples (left). An aerial camera snaps a shot of a jaguar in Los Llanos, Colombia (right). (To better understand the biodiversity in need of protection, watch the optional 20-second video “Sight of a jaguar in Los Llanos, Colombia” [Streaming Video].)

Along with many Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, Roa encourages all voices in environmental-related strategizing to be heard. She calls us to design and implement solutions that don’t prioritize corporations but that protect and benefit both people and the planet. The example she shared is a jaguar-friendly eco-label program available in Colombia and Costa Rica (figure 10.4) that is helping address threats to jaguars due to increased land use by farmers. It’s a certification given mainly to coffee growers whose farms are in jaguar corridors. (Optional: See the 20-second clip of a jaguar in the Llanos region of Colombia in figure 10.4 [right].)

The certification identifies growers who are practicing land management that provides habitat for jaguars and their prey (Paz Cardona 2021). Once certified, the farmers gain access to new markets. They earn more because their products are recognized as directly related to the protection of biodiversity and the jaguar (“WHAT IS the Jaguar Friendly Coffee Eco-Label?” n.d.).

This social dilemma and these human rights concerns taking place in the Serengeti National Park are just one of many occurring around the world. They illustrate difficult shifts in our global society as population increases, globalization advances, and biodiversity comes further under threat. Groups with political and economic power respond with actions such as the eviction of the Maasai people, raising important questions about equity and rights. It’s a seemingly impossible social problem.

However, around the world individuals and organizations are working to creatively find solutions to these kinds of conflicts. Other solutions, like the jaguar-friendly coffee label, point to more thoughtful solutions that consider the rights of both people and nature to exist. These events and initiatives are part of a larger story of the environmental movement.

In this chapter we’ll examine social movements as the mobilization of large numbers of people working together to achieve a social goal or address a social problem. We’ll discuss how sociology examines social movements. We’ll discuss the persistent and organized efforts of members of social movements to either bring about what they believe to be beneficial social change or, in some cases, resist or reverse change viewed as harmful (DeFronzo and Gill 2020). This chapter will ultimately encourage you to ask questions about how social movements can protect both the well-being of humans and the environment.

How do environmental changes, plus some environmental solutions, exacerbate inequity?
With an equity lens, how can environmental social movements improve lived experiences for members of society?
What are some specific movements that are responding to the environmental challenges of our time?