KEY tour operators are voicing their concerns over claims of human rights abuses by Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) in its efforts to incorporate the Ihefu and Usangu wetland into Ruaha National Park.

Sirili Akko, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) executive director, says claims by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and allied media outlets on the issue are groundless.

In a statement, TATO highlights the negative impact the malicious allegations have created on the travel and tourism industry in the country, urging self-proclaimed whistle blowers to seek accurate information and take note of repercussions of spreading unsubstantiated claims.

TATO unequivocally defends TANAPA, condemning foreign actors who assert that the conservation and tourism agency is forcibly evicting people from their ‘ancestral lands’ for tourism purposes.

TATO’s response was arguably directed at the US-based Oakland Institute, whose reservations and outright hostility to the conservation efforts on the wetland (an ecosystem covering land in two adjacent regions) recently led to World Bank funding of the conservation project being halted at two thirds mark.

A total of $50m is reported to have been withheld by the global lender on account of the US NGO petitioning members of the US House of Representatives, which lately sent a team for a visit to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, whose plan to relocate arguably indigenous people from the area to preserve the now threatened wildlife sanctuary has met with withering criticism from a number of pro-indigenous people organisations.

Oakland Institute and its allies say that the government is engaged in forceful evictions of communities from ancestral lands, which TATO, housing over 300 professional tour operators, vehemently rejects.

It says that the decision dating 2008 to incorporate key water catchment areas of Ihefu and Usangu plains into Ruaha National Park was intended to curb unsustainable agricultural and pastoral practices.

Analysts recall that back in 2003, agricultural and pastoral activities in the context of population growth led to a drastic reduction in river flows across Tanzania. Hydropower generation suffered, resulting in widespread power outages, they say.

TATO points out that unlike neighboring countries with titles to ancestral lands, all land in Tanzania is vested in the public domain, so those offered land for any purposes are subject to relocation if it serves broader public interests.

The drying up of the Ihefu Valley and Usangu Plains water catchment areas, critical for the Great Ruaha River, had severe consequences as the river is the main water source to hydropower dams at Mtera dam on the border between Iringa and Dodoma regions, as well as Kidatu dam in Morogoro Region. Lately it also feeds the dam for the strategic downstream Nyerere hydropower station.

Opening the Nyerere hydropower station is expected to tilt the balance of sourcing of power back to hydro sources, as it has for a while been dominated by the more expensive natural gas generation.

Findings of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute indicate that the decline in the Great Ruaha and its tributaries significantly impacted the buffalo population and other fauna within the Ruaha National Park. 

Similarly, the Sangu ethnic group, original pastoralists in the affected water catchment areas, were few in number and lacked sufficient cattle to raise alarm, while migrant pastoralists invaded the area in the decades after independence, as 

Tanzania had a population of nine million, increasing to over 61 million in the August 2022 census.

Analysts say that pastoralists in the Ihefu and Usangu water catchment areas face critical challenges, with cattle herds of 3,000 to 7,000 for one pastoralist, alongside a range of other water users downstream.

Last year, the Oakland Institute published a report accusing the Tanzanian government of expanding Ruaha National Park solely to boost tourism revenue, potentially at the expense of local villagers. 

The eviction process, coupled with routine park patrols, led to the confiscation of property—livestock, fish, and other trophies—from villagers residing near the water catchment

The World Bank, which supported Tanzania’s Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (REGROW) project with a $150m loan in 2017, faced scrutiny due to the Oakland Institute’s claims.

The REGROW initiative is intended to enhance natural resource management and tourism assets across southern Tanzania, including Ruaha, Nyerere, Mikumi, and Udzungwa national parks.

Despite bureaucratic delays, the REGROW project finally gained momentum in 2019. However, with the Oakland Institute’s claims of forced evictions, rights abuses and environmental harm, the balance of $50m in funding was withheld towards the end of the 2023/24 financial year.