Land Policy and the Maasai in Tanzania: The Demise of Pastoralism?

The pastoralists Maasai primarily depend on livestock keeping for their subsistence which requires access to grazing land and water for maintaining their traditional systems. Mobility is fundamental to control rangeland degradation and sustain pastoralism. The current land policy and increasing privatization of land within the rangelands in Tanzania are seen as quite contrary to the interests of the Maasai, and might lead to the demise of their pastoralism system in the future. Existing land related policies and legislations are suppressing the pastoralists Maasai rights to access, use and manage their common grazing land. The case study of Ewor-endeke village is affected considerably by the implementation of private property rights. Land privatization is not of any value to the Ewor-endeke people who are still depending on pastoralism rather than source of demise and extreme poverty.