MISA objects to UNESCO World Heritage Site & Geopark in Ngorongoro

In July 2024, two experts visited the Ngorongoro-Lengai Geopark in northern Tanzania to assess it and to make a recommendation on its validation. In August, the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA) – having learned of this mission through social media – sent a letter to the experts to complain about the lack of the Maasai pastoralists’ involvement and to inform the experts about current human rights violations in the area. MISA requested a physical or online meeting with the experts. This request was ignored. The mission report published before the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council on 8–9 September in Vietnam gave a green light for revalidating the Geopark. On 5 September, MISA sent a letter to the Global Geopark Council, asking them not to revalidate the Ngorongoro-Lengai Geopark. The decision on the Geopark has reportedly been rescheduled to December 2024.

On 16 September, a MISA delegation met with representatives from the UNESCO World Heritage Site and Global Geopark at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. MISA presented how the Tanzanian Government has used UNESCO recommendations in the past to justify eviction of Maasai and other communities in Ngorongoro on the pretext that pastoralism is not compatible with World Heritage Site (WHS) policies. It urged UNESCO to implement inclusive policies that respect Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty, traditions and sustainable stewardship of their ancestral lands. This MISA background document on UNESCO’s involvement in the Ngorongoro WHS & Geopark includes also MISA’s key demands to UNESCO.

Posted on 18 October 2024 in News, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Policy & Power