Workshop: Maasai and nature conservation

“Nature Conservation, Land Grabbing, and Indigenous People's Rights: Maasai in Northern Tanzania are defending their own vision for conservation and sustainable livelihoods"  

On 11.09.2024, a workshop at the BOKU Vienna explored decolonial visions of conservation that are inclusive and people-led. The workshop highlighted how conservation areas have led to the mass displacement of local Indigenous Peoples. The aim was to critically discuss different perspectives on nature and biodiversity conservation in light of the new green transition of the European Union (EU).

Two important documents were launched at this event:

• A Maasai conservation vision that is an alternative to fortress conservation and land alienation - read more on the Maasai's vision of conservation: A Maasai Conservation Vision. A graphical summary can be found here: Summary
• A Policy Brief highlighting how the new biodiversity conservation rush is threatening the rights of Indigenous Peoples: Policy Brief 

The outstanding panel featured Joseph Moses Oleshangay from the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA); Lerato Thakoli from @Wageningen University & Research and @the University of the Western Cape, South Africa; Ewin Künzi from the @Austrian Development Agency (ADA); Ann Waters Bayer from the @International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) and German Institute for Tropical & Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL); and Sigrun Zwanzger from @Welthaus Graz. The panel was facilitated by Priscilla Claeys from @CoventryCAWR. The event was jointly organized with Stefanie Lemke and supported by Andreas Bauer from IDR. 

This event was hosted as part of a workshop series on land rights of marginalised groups, within the Austrian Development Cooperation Project “Resilient and sustainable food and agricultural systems” (OEZA-Projekt 2706-00/2021 RASFAS). 

The workshop was held at the international scientific conference #Tropentag, hosted by @atsaf.ev and @boku_idr at BOKU University in Vienna.