Landrights for the Hadzabe – essential for their survival!

The Hadzabe are a nomadic people who have lived for more than 10,000 years in the dry Savannah bushlands of east Africa. This environment is rich in wildlife. However, in recent decades the living conditions of the Hadzabe have dramatically changed. In modern Tanzanian society their way of life is seen as sub-human and worthless, and their basic rights are being ignored. As a result of minimal protection for their living space and culture, the population of the Hadzabe has declined to just around one thousand. They live around Lake Eyasi in Northern Tanzania. These nomadic people have in the last 40 years suffered extra hardships as a result of a variety of measures by the government and other authorities to assimilate them into modern society.

In order to ‘civilise’ this nomadic tribe, the Tanzanian authorities are setting up boarding schools , which lie several days’ walking distance away from where the Hadzabe live. For nine months per year the Hadzabe children in these schools are taught exclusively in Swahili and are not allowed to use their own language. In the remaining three months of ‘holiday’ they hardly have any chance to learn the survival techniques of their forefathers. It is hardly surprising that many of the Hadzabe youngsters have already lost any sense of identity. Many end up as day labourers, beggars, prostitutes and alcoholics.

Most difficult of all for the Hadzabe is the loss of their tribal lands. The Tanzanian state classifies this as unused land, and has encouraged its occupation and use by others. Farmers of other ethnic groups now use the land of the Nomads for agriculture and pasture. This upsets the natural ecological balances, and chases away the wildlife – the most important source of food for the Hadzabe. The farm animals require water from the local springs, which are in short supply, and they pollute these with their excrement. Furthermore, the government has been selling some of the traditional tribal lands to private businesses and/or has been setting up National Parks. Although these Parks should be safeguarding some of the wildlife, they nevertheless prevent the Hadzabe from following their prey.

Part of the Hadzabe lands have also been distributed to commercial hunting businesses. Officials from these firms have imprisoned and mistreated some of the Hadzabe hunters or have handed them over to the Tanzanian police. Legal hunting for trophies, as well as illegal poaching activities, have drastically reduced the stock of wildlife around Lake Eyasi. As a consequence, many Hadzabe have intermittently been suffering from malnutrition.

In 2007 a large safari business made a bid to buy a large area around Lake Eyasi in Northern Tanzania – the traditional lands of the Hadzabe. The aim was to use this land for hunting tourism. This would have meant the end of the Hadzabe culture. As a result of major protests from both within and outside the country, the project was stopped. However, this victory seems to be just temporary.

The Society for Threatened Peoples therefore calls upon the Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizango Pinda to ensure the following:

Recognition of the traditional land rights of the Hadzabe

Protection of wildlife from poaching activities

Special hunting rights for the Hadzabe in National Parks

The setting up of special schools for Hadzabe children, which can be attended voluntarily, and whose teaching methods will take full account of the cultural needs of the children.

Link for the On-line appeal

Translation: Charles and Gisela Russell