GERMAN INVOLVEMENT
GERMAN INVOLVEMENT
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Vertreibungen fĂĽr Tourismus und Jagdsafaris
Read an overview of FIAN’s case work.
Die Vertreibung der Maasai
Brutales Greenwashing
Lebenslängliches Greenwashing
Here’s a news article about Volkswagen’s involvement in soil carbon credit schemes in Northern Tanzania.
Vertreibungen der Maasai im Namen von Tourismus und Naturschutz:
Germany has a long and problematic track record of involvement in Tanzania, which started in colonial times. Between 1885 and 1918, the Tanzania mainland (excluding Zanzibar) was held under German colonial power (a part of “German East Africa”). After the change to British colonial rule in 1919, the German Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) remained a very influential actor in Tanzania, supporting the resettlement of us Maasai from the Serengeti National Park.
To this day, German development cooperation (including the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Development Bank (KfW), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂĽr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and German conservation organisations, especially Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) and WWF Germany, remain very active players in financing fortress conservation activities in northern Tanzania. Many of these interventions face harsh criticism from our Maasai communities because of their lack of transparency and community consent, associated human rights violations and collusion with the Tanzanian government.
A Maasai delegation stands by a fixture in the Frankfurt Zoo. Credit: FIAN Deutschland
On January 24th, German State Secretary Mr Flasbarth visited several BMZ-funded projects in Loliondo, Ngorongoro District. Credit: German Embassy Dar es Salaam.
Since 2018 alone, German development cooperation has provided more than 100 million euros to fund conservation and tourism projects, including support for Tanzanian government bodies such as Tanzania National Parks(TANAPA) and Tanzania Wildlife Authority TAWA. Substantive parts of this government funding are also going to the Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) and the German Development Bank (KfW) for projects in the Serengeti ecosystem, including Ngorongoro and Loliondo. Both the ZGF and KfW work closely with TANAPA, which has been accused of involvement in violent evictions and repeated repression against us. The German government’s financial and political support thereby contributes to the legitimation of ongoing human rights violations.
A MISA representative protests alongside CSOs in front of Frankfurt Zoological Society headquarters in Frankfurt in December 2023. Credit: GfbV.
MISA also contests private sector funding that goes into false climate solutions that threaten our pastoral livelihoods. The German car manufacturer Volkswagen is the main investor in a massive carbon credit project which spans nearly one million hectares of Maasai grazing land in the North of the country, triggering fierce resistance among the us. Read more about the carbon credit projects in Tanzania on our NO CARBON page.
Finally, with over 100.000 visitors per year, Germany is among the top five countries of origin of tourists travelling to Tanzania, despite the clear links between tourism development, environmental degradation and Maasai evictions, especially in Ngorongoro.
Against this backdrop, MISA engages with many different actors in Germany to ask for transparency, hold them accountable and change their approach to climate action and biodiversity conservation.
A Maasai delegation holds a demonstration in front of the German Parliament (Bundestag), demanding that funding which supports human rights violations be stopped. Credit: FIAN Deutschland
Key Actors we have engaged with:
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development – BMZ
German Development Bank – KfW
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ
Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt/Frankfurt Zoological Society – ZGF
World Wildlife Fund Germany - WWF Germany
Volkswagen and Volkswagen ClimatePartners
Successes
In 2023, the Tanzanian government using funds from the Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) developed the Ngorongoro District Land Use Framework Plan (DLUFP). We, the Maasai people and our elected councilors, unanimously rejected this plan because we believe it was intended to legitimize serious human rights violations committed during the violent establishment of the Pololeti Game Reserve in 2022. A central critique of the DLUFP was that it would have legalized the annexation of village land for the Pololeti Game-Controlled Area and stripped our communities of our land rights. The plan also aimed to grant political legitimacy to the government's broader strategy to displace us from the Ngorongoro and Sale divisions - particularly the villages of Engaresero, Pinyinyi, and Oldoinyo Sambu which were explicitly designated in the DLUFP as conservation areas "without people."
After the Ngorongoro District Council rejected the DLUFP, the government introduced an alternative strategy: to delist all villages and remove Ngorongoro as a parliamentary constituency. This revealed the extent of collusion between the government and the organizations financing the DLUFP. Both of these plans were ultimately reconsidered by the government following massive demonstrations in August 2024. A major turning point came through our direct engagement with the German government, which in 2023 led to the withdrawal of funding for the DLUFP in Ngorongoro District.
Moreover, through highlighting the close ties between Germany and Tanzania in nature conservation, the land conflicts have been picked up frequently by German media and have provided a critical reflection of German funding and interventions. This media coverage has been a key tool in revealing human rights abuses, contradicting an otherwise positive perception in the German population about nature conservation and tourism in Tanzania.
Standing in front of the German Parliament, a Maasai delegation holds up a Frankfurter Rundschau story about the Maasai. Credit: FIAN Deutschland
Kohlenstoffprojekte untergraben Landrechte der Maasai
Read Misereor’s, GfbV’s and FIAN’s press release summary of the carbon report:
Auf der Spur von Menschenrechtsverletzungen
Die Maasai in Tansania. Gewaltsam vertrieben fĂĽr den Naturschutz.
Read STP’s report about the evictions of Maasai in the name of tourism and conservation.
Menschenrechtsverletzungen und ein falsches Verständnis von Naturschutz
Read FIAN’s fact sheet about the evictions of Maasai in the name of tourism and conservation.
Listen to this FIAN podcast episode for an overview of how the Tanzanian government is driving the expulsion of the Maasai, with the help of German companies and organizations, under the guise of promoting tourism and conservation. It is available in German Listen to a FIAN podcast episode about human rights violations of the Sangaredi in Guinea and the Maasai in Tanzania.
Listen to a FIAN podcast episode about human rights violations of the Sangaredi in Guinea and the Maasai in Tanzania.
Read a news article about how Tanzania’s cooperation with foreign investors, who offer trophy hunting and luxury vacations, is displacing Maasai.