Sudden Leap into Darkness: The case of Maasai Exclusion and marginalisation in Ngorongoro, Northern Tanzania

Joseph Moses Oleshangay[1]

Ngorongoro, a World Heritage Site, Man and Biosphere Reserve, Global Geopark by UNESCO, and home for over 80,000 Maasai is under siege. The Maasai, a Nilotic ethnic group, have moved around the Ngorongoro and Serengeti areas while conserving the land and wildlife for approximately 500 years. Over the centuries the Maasai have developed a finely honed symbiotic relationship with the local environment, which has allowed the domestication of livestock and people to coexist in a dryland and therefore a resource-scarce environment. In addition, their local knowledge has allowed the large mammal population as well as ecological diversity to grow under their stewardship. However currently they are being accused by the government, international conservation lobbyists, and wildlife hunting firms, of threatening what they have kept safely over centuries. As history demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth. As this article will demonstrate, the ongoing pressure against the Maasai is largely influenced by the potential financial gain resting with the land, wildlife, and ecological biodiversity, rather than their own role in threatening nature and wildlife.

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The Aftermath of The Ecuadorian Earthquake

Andy Taylor

Six years after the 7.8 Earthquake on the 16th of April 2016, the human rights of those who survived remain conspicuously ignored. According to World Vision the Earthquake killed nearly 700 people and severely injured more than 6,000. Out of the 7 million people in the worst-affected provinces, 700,000 needed immediate assistance.

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Aligning the Stars: Sustainable Development and Space Justice

Tamara Blagojevic

Having in mind that the environment itself consists of different ecosystems, whether on earth, in the air or even in space, and considering that their similarities are preconditioned by their belonging to the natural environment – it would be hard not to conclude that a multidisciplinary approach and transplanting adequate regulation in comparable situations, would be not just applicable, but highly desirable in the fast changing and developing society where technology and industry keep winning the race with regulation.

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The Shadow Lands: Burma’s Landmine Problem

Regina Paulose[1]

In early January, young Rohingya children went outside of their homes in search of firewood. Four children tripped on a landmine and perished. The remaining children were severely injured. Continue reading

Seeking refuge from climate change

Anne Watanabe

In January, NOAA and NASA announced that the previous decade was the hottest on record, and the UN warned of more extreme weather events in the new decade, the result of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Climate change’s impacts – whether in the form of massive wildfires, hurricanes or flooding, or slower-onset destruction by drought, sea level rise, or extreme heat – will increasingly drive migration worldwide as people flee their homelands. Continue reading