TNRF Celebrates Homecoming of Tanzanian Environmental Hero
BY IAN TUPIN & ZAKARIA FAUSTIN
This past Saturday, TNRF joined with other civil society groups, government officials, pastoralist women and traditional leaders from various pastoral districts to welcome home Maasai environmental hero Edward Loure. Mr. Loure, who has been a board member at TNRF for years, was returning from the USA, where he was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the world's largest award for grassroots campaigners, on Monday 18th April, 2016 for his work in securing and protecting communal land tenure for indigenous communities. By 2013, he secured over 200,000 acres of ancestral land for the Maasai and Hadzabe using Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCROs).
Loure worked with the Ujamaa Community Resource Team as its director for a decade to acquire government-issued CCROS for communal grazing land that will serve to preserve traditional pastoralism and hunter-gatherer livelihoods in areas where they have thrived for thousands of years. Mr. Loure used both indigenous knowledge and a university degree in management to protect pastoral and hunter gatherer communities and their ancient culture by ensuring their land tenure and livelihoods.
Speaking to media at Kilimanjaro International Airport upon his arrival, Loure recalled being surprised to hear about the award: “We didn’t start this work thinking that there were international organizations waiting to recognize us, we did this work every day because this is our lives!”
The Goldman Prize, which is widely viewed as the most prestigious form of international recognition for grassroots environmentalists, is awarded to six activists every year, one from each of the major continents. "I am very humbled to receive this honour, it's a great honour for the entire Maasai and Hadzabe community," Loure said of the prize which was also awarded to other campaigners from Cambodia, Slovakia, Puerto Rico, the United States and Peru.
Mr. Loure is the 27th African and the first Tanzanian to win the Prize since it was established in 1990. As a long-term a TNRF board member and partner in TNRF’s work to create a supportive environment for traditional pastoralism, Loure’s work on pastoralist land tenure goes hand in hand with TNRF’s vision of a thriving and resilient future for Tanzania’s rangelands.
Mr. Loure is inspired to continue to use the same strategy and approach to secure rights for indigenous pastoralists and hunter gatherers on more than 970,000 acres of land, mostly in northern Tanzania—a challenging task that requires strong commitments, support and collaboration from partners and government.
Tanzanian CSOs and governmental officials congratulate and welcome Edward Loure at Arusha reception on 30th April, 2016