90
4
Trailer
September 2009, Longido District, Tanzania: We are driving along a bumpy, dusty
road, which hardly consists of more than two tire tracks through a dry savanna landscape on the border to Kenya. This is the land of Sinya, a Maasai village, close to a
recently established community-based conservation area called Enduimet Wildlife
Management Area. Occasionally we see wildlife such as zebras, giraffes, antelopes and
elephants. Because of a severe drought this year, we see a lot of dead livestock. The
Maasai pastoralists in this region have lost many cattle in the last few months. There
is also some dead wildlife around.
We see the dying elephant from a long distance in the open, barren landscape. It is
still breathing, but dies a few hours later. However, it is not the drought that killed it.
The elephant had wandered around for a couple of days with a long Maasai spear in
its head. When we see it, the spear had just been removed by veterinarians. There are
also uniformed rangers with rifles at the site, along with representatives from the
District authorities’ Wildlife Office.
The elephant was not killed by poachers hunting for ivory. The drought is a significant factor behind what has happened. Lack of water has led to competition between
humans and elephants in the area. Rumour had it this elephant had arrived at a waterhole and had not managed to scare away all the cattle drinking there. The thirsty elephant then trampled a cow to death. This led some Maasai herdsmen to attack the
elephant and place a spear in its head. This is an example of the struggle for water
between elephants and humans, which tends to take place in this area during droughts.
Many small-scale farmers in the area are also frustrated because the elephants often
come and raid their crops. Still, however, attributing what happened to the drought
alone would be too simplistic.
Overview
In contrast to drought as an explanation, one may argue that the reason the elephant
died is because the number of elephants in the area had increased before this incident
(Moss 2001; Kioko et al. 2006), and that this is related to the increase in different types
of protected areas and reserves. In this area, and in Tanzania in general, the extension
of conservation areas in different forms has continued to increase. According to
official figures, 36% of Tanzania was covered by various conservation areas in 2007.
Since then, new community-based forest and wildlife conservation areas have been
established. In 2015, Wildlife Management Areas alone were estimated to cover 13%
of the land area (Bluwstein and Friis Lund 2018). This means that totally around half
of Tanzania’s land mass is conserved in one way or another, which again leads to a
reduced area in which people may keep livestock and farm the land.
People have also experienced an increase in crop damage caused by elephants. In
addition, conservation in Tanzania is most of the time carried out with modest
participation from local communities who often feel marginalized politically as well
as economically through loss of access to land and natural resources, whether the
conservation is called ‘community-based’ or not (Neumann 1998; Brockington 2002;
Goldman 2003; Igoe and Croucher 2007; Benjaminsen and Bryceson 2012;
Benjaminsen et al. 2013; Bluwstein 2018).
Chapter 4 · Conservation Discourses Versus Practices
4
Trailer
September 2009, Longido District, Tanzania: We are driving along a bumpy, dusty
road, which hardly consists of more than two tire tracks through a dry savanna landscape on the border to Kenya. This is the land of Sinya, a Maasai village, close to a
recently established community-based conservation area called Enduimet Wildlife
Management Area. Occasionally we see wildlife such as zebras, giraffes, antelopes and
elephants. Because of a severe drought this year, we see a lot of dead livestock. The
Maasai pastoralists in this region have lost many cattle in the last few months. There
is also some dead wildlife around.
We see the dying elephant from a long distance in the open, barren landscape. It is
still breathing, but dies a few hours later. However, it is not the drought that killed it.
The elephant had wandered around for a couple of days with a long Maasai spear in
its head. When we see it, the spear had just been removed by veterinarians. There are
also uniformed rangers with rifles at the site, along with representatives from the
District authorities’ Wildlife Office.
The elephant was not killed by poachers hunting for ivory. The drought is a significant factor behind what has happened. Lack of water has led to competition between
humans and elephants in the area. Rumour had it this elephant had arrived at a waterhole and had not managed to scare away all the cattle drinking there. The thirsty elephant then trampled a cow to death. This led some Maasai herdsmen to attack the
elephant and place a spear in its head. This is an example of the struggle for water
between elephants and humans, which tends to take place in this area during droughts.
Many small-scale farmers in the area are also frustrated because the elephants often
come and raid their crops. Still, however, attributing what happened to the drought
alone would be too simplistic.
Overview
In contrast to drought as an explanation, one may argue that the reason the elephant
died is because the number of elephants in the area had increased before this incident
(Moss 2001; Kioko et al. 2006), and that this is related to the increase in different types
of protected areas and reserves. In this area, and in Tanzania in general, the extension
of conservation areas in different forms has continued to increase. According to
official figures, 36% of Tanzania was covered by various conservation areas in 2007.
Since then, new community-based forest and wildlife conservation areas have been
established. In 2015, Wildlife Management Areas alone were estimated to cover 13%
of the land area (Bluwstein and Friis Lund 2018). This means that totally around half
of Tanzania’s land mass is conserved in one way or another, which again leads to a
reduced area in which people may keep livestock and farm the land.
People have also experienced an increase in crop damage caused by elephants. In
addition, conservation in Tanzania is most of the time carried out with modest
participation from local communities who often feel marginalized politically as well
as economically through loss of access to land and natural resources, whether the
conservation is called ‘community-based’ or not (Neumann 1998; Brockington 2002;
Goldman 2003; Igoe and Croucher 2007; Benjaminsen and Bryceson 2012;
Benjaminsen et al. 2013; Bluwstein 2018).
Chapter 4 · Conservation Discourses Versus Practices