TANZANIA was honoured as one of the recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize, announced by the Goldman Environmental Foundation, which recognises individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk
The winner of the 2016 Goldman Environmental Foundation Prize from Africa, Edward Loure, is a Tanzanian, who has led a grassroots organization that pioneered an approach that gives land titles to indigenous communities—instead of individuals—in northern Tanzania, ensuring the environmental stewardship of more than 200,000 acres of land for future generations. He is the only African in the list of winners in this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s biggest award for grassroots environmental activists.
The award was conferred to six heroes of the environment from Tanzania, Cambodia, Slovakia, Peru, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The Goldman Prize is awarded annually to environmental heroes from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions. It recognizes fearless grassroots activists for significant achievements in protecting the environment and their communities.
Others who won the prestigious prize were Leng Ouch (Cambodia), Zuzana Caputova (Slovakia), Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera (Puerto Rico), Destiny Watford (United States) and Ms Maxima Acuna (Peru). The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1989 by late San Francisco civic leaders and philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman. Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals. The winners were awarded at an invitation-only ceremony yesterday at the San Francisco Opera House.
Edward Loure has worked steadfastly to secure land rights for the indigenous people of northern Tanzania in a way that protects traditional livelihoods and biodiversity. Loure has spent countless hours in the field working to apply an innovative legal mechanism that has secured a total of 84,476 hectares of land for wildlife and livestock grazing.
Not only has this approach halted the conversion of wildlife migratory corridors into agricultural land, but it has also reduced human-wildlife conflicts and enabled indigenous communities to receive compensation for protecting their land through payments for ecosystem services.
A happy Mr. Loure, expressed his joy at the honour of the Goldman Environmental Prize. “I appreciate the recognition of the efforts that I have made in securing community and communal land rights, sometimes under a very harsh environment. My colleagues and I at Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT), facilitate villagers to secure their communal land rights,” said Mr. Loure.
He added, “We help them to obtain Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCROs). So getting the international recognition is a very big thing for me, those I work with and the communities that we serve. I hope it will bring more awareness for the need of communal land rights for pastoralist communities in Tanzania.”
Loure, who is in his forties, is one of the founding members of Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT), one of the first Tanzanian conservation non-governmental organisations led and staffed by indigenous people. Loure is a member of the Maasai community, an indigenous group of pastoralists.
He grew up in the Simanjiro plains adjacent to Tarangire National Park. When the park was established in 1970, the Maasai residing within the park boundaries were forcefully evicted and lost access to valuable dry season water and pasture resources.
On what his message to Tanzania’s government was, he responded:
“We are asking the government to find a way of securing our pastoralists communal land; for example, if they can gazette a national park, why not a community residence grazing area?” posed Mr. Loure.