Country: Tanzania

Group: Hadza

Date Finalized: November 1, 2023

Team: Kate Edwards (lead), Likith Munigala, Khulan Davaasuren, Lori Francis, Autumn Towne

Content Warning: land violence, forced away from native lands

Approximate Time Period: 1960s – Present

The Hadza are a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers who in recent times have lived in semipermanent camps (Gibbons, n.d.). The Hadza live in the arid, rocky environment surrounding Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania. They have “resisted many attempts by governments and missionaries to move them into settlements to become farmers.” (Gibbons, n.d.).

There are cases of forced removal of the Hadza from their land, both by the Tanzanian government and other ethnic groups in the area. The Tanzanian government has encouraged others to settle in Hadza lands (Minority Rights Group, 2019; Gibbons, n.d). Barabaig pastoralist groups, who the Tanzanian government forced off of their own land, are now taking over parts of the Hadza’s land forcing them away as well (Minority Rights Group, 2019). There are larger groups, including the Barabaig ,that believe that the land which the Hadza have rights over should be shared between more groups. This is also the case for the Datoga group, which has started to move onto Hadza land due to their land not being able to provide the resources they need (Gibbons, n.d).

Currently, the Hadza are working to secure more land rights as land gets encroached on by other groups (Minority Rights Group, 2019). In 2011, the government gave Hadza the first communal land titles. Even with the communal land titles the Tanzanian government still has rights over the Hadza land for hunting and leasing rights (Minority Rights Group, 2019). Recent shifts from wildlands to fields have changed the way Hadza can live their lives (Gibbons, n.d). Loss of land and wildlife have caused Hadza to lose some of their previous quality of life (RefWorld, n.d). Groups like Carbon Tanzania are working to funnel funds to offset carbon emissions right back into this community (Minority Rights Group, 2019).

Data Quality:

2.5/3, There is good information about the forced away of Hadza from their land in Tanzania but there are not many academic or peer reviewed sources.

Sources