Edward Loure | |
---|---|
Nationality | Tanzanian |
Organization | Ujamaa Community Resource Team |
Awards | Goldman Environmental Prize |
Edward Loure is a Tanzanian tribal activist. He is a member of the Maasai people. Loure was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2016, for his efforts of defending the Maasaian traditional way of life, which has been threatened by commercial tourism. [1] [2] [3]
Edward Loure grew up in a pastoral tribal community in the Simanjiro plains, near Tarangire National Park. His family raised cattle and lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Motivated by his upbringing, he dedicated his efforts to the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) in order to safeguard the Maasaian way of life. Traditionally, pastoralist communities coexisted with migratory wildlife while subsisting off the land. The Maasai seasonally move their herds, managing their livestock to prevent overgrazing and help maintain the ecosystem. As a young man, Loure became aware that the Maasai people's lands were being reduced and their access restricted due to the growth of tourism and the creation of national parks. This has led to some Indigenous peoples being displaced from their native lands, becoming conservation refugees. Furthermore, the government engaged in covert land sales to the safari and game-hunting industries without first engaging with local indigenous populations. [4] [ better source needed ]
Loure led the UCRT movement, with the support of Maasai elders, to secure communal rights for their land. This work resulted in the Tanzanian government issuing the first-ever Certificate of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCRO) to a member of the Maasai community. As of 2021 [update] , through the use of CCROs the UCRT movement has secured 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) of rangeland. The UCRT movement aims to promote the CCRO model and community-based land titling throughout Tanzania. [4]
Maasai Mara, also sometimes spelled Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honor of the Maasai people, the ancestral inhabitants of the area, who migrated to the area from the Nile Basin. Their description of the area when looked at from afar: "Mara" means "spotted" in the local Maasai language, due to the many short bushy trees which dot the landscape.
The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best-known local populations internationally due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes and their distinctive customs and dress. The Maasai speak the Maa language, a member of the Nilotic language family that is related to the Dinka, Kalenjin and Nuer languages. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili and English. The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in the 2019 census, compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census, though many Maasai view the census as government meddling and therefore either refuse to participate or actively provide false information.
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