This Land is Our Land: Protection leads to repurchase
Under the ancient baobab tree the celebration begins. The Hadza hunter-gatherers are joined by the District Commissioner of Mbulu, James Kheri, who is officiating the buying back of land that once belonged to the Hadza. Less than 1000 Hadza still live a traditional, semi nomadic life in their ancestral rangelands in the Yaeda Valley, moving […]
Indigenous Voices Protecting Forests
The Hadza Hunter-gatherers of Yaeda Chini, Domanga and Mongo wa Mono villages have been powerful Indigenous voices protecting forests on their ancestral lands for decades. They have applied Carbon Tanzania’s community-led approach to REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) to protect their biodiverse and carbon rich forests and following a decade of successful […]
Laying the Foundations for the New Yaeda-Eyasi REDD Project.
Linking the Yaeda Valley to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Carbon Tanzania has recently begun taking the first steps in the design and development of the expansion to the award-winning Yaeda Valley Project. This will amplify Carbon Tanzania’s proven innovative conservation solution across a culturally and ecologically important landscape that incorporates 12 villages and links the Yaeda Valley through the Eyasi Basin to the world-famous […]
Toilets on planes, and underground trains:
Reflections of a Hadza hunter-gatherer in New York City In September 2019, Ezekiel Phillippo travelled to New York City to represent the Hadza hunter-gatherer community of Yaeda Valley. He went to receive the Equator Prize on behalf of his community, a people who have lived in the area for the past 40,000 years. The prize […]
Are all Forests Created Equal?
Every March we celebrate the International Day of Forests, another of the many international “days” that seem to appear on our social media feeds almost every day of the year. But do these days stimulate increased interest in or action on their subjects? For me the purpose of these days is to simply highlight a […]
Sharing the Revenue from Carbon Offsets – What Really Happens?
As part of our contractual agreement with the communities in Yaeda Valley, the Carbon Tanzania team heads to Yaeda for meetings in May and November every year. These scheduled meetings are attended by the ward government, village government, partner organizations and members of the Hadza communities, some of whom can walk for a day or […]
Evidence of the Importance of Protecting Hadza lands
Why diverse ecosystems are the key to our digestive system – yet more evidence of the importance of protecting the Hadza lands in the Yaeda valley. Last weekend, it was a pleasure to spend an evening dining with Jeff Leach, talking about microbes, digestion and as he so aptly puts it ‘pooh’. The perfect […]
The Value of Valuing Nature
The sun is just about to set. It is almost 7 pm in the Yaeda Valley in Northern Tanzania, and I am sitting on top of a rock overlooking the vast wilderness below me, as it shimmers in the golden hour. It is one of the most breathtaking views of my life, and I feel […]
How Forest Conservation Meets Our Basic Needs
We sit under an Acacia tree – an Acacia Tortillis to be precise, thanks to its provision of one of our basic needs, shade from the midday African sun. And since our entire approach depends on effective forest conservation, we can be precise! It is the latter stages of the dry season in Yaeda Valley, […]
News from the Yaeda Valley
It has been a busy 6 months for our community partners in the Yaeda Valley and for Carbon Tanzania. As some of you may have already heard we are expanding the size of the Yaeda Valley project area and incorporating surrounding communities. The newly incorporated land is adjacent to the existing project site and will […]