Hadza Hunter Gatherers & Datooga
Protecting forests with the Hadza Hunter Gatherers and Datooga pastoralist communities, in the Yaeda – Eyasi Landscape Project. The Hadza have lived in the valley for over 40,000 years. They are the ‘last of the first’. Strengthening land rights and creating new livelihoods is enabling communities to reduce deforestation.
Protection of indigenous culture
The Hadza communities have now been joined by neighbouring Datooga pastoralist communities. The extended project now protects 110,500 ha of forest avoiding 217,172 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Their forests are under constant threat from farmers looking for new grazing pastures and land for crop production. These forests provide food and shelter to communities deeply connected to their land. Without these forests, this unique way of life, aligned with nature, would be lost forever.
Land area
110,562 ha
Project Status
Active
Participants
64,000
Founding Partner & Year
Carbon Tanzania, 2012
Certified Under
Plan Vivo Climate
TCO₂ – total verified carbon benefit
695,148
Project Type
Avoiding deforestation
Key Species
Elephant, Cheetah, Thorntree (Acacia), Baobab and Myrrh (Comifera)
How it works
Under the guidance of Carbon Tanzania, local indigenous communities are being empowered to protect their natural resources, secure land rights and act on deforestation.
All of this leads to lower deforestation rates, higher biodiversity conservation and higher carbon storage. The project enables the protection of 12 threatened species and connects to the UNESCO world heritage site in Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The population of wildlife in the Yaeda-Eyasi is now comparable to the numbers found in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and southern Serengeti.
What Makes This Project Special
Indigenous-led conservation
The Hadza are the custodians of their own ancestral forest, shaping and implementing it’s protection, with full agency and legal land rights.
Protects a unique cultural landscape
Safeguards the forests that sustain traditional lifeways – from hunting and gathering to pastoral grazing – for communities that have lived in the Yaeda Valley for tens of thousands of years.
Community land tenure and governance
Enabling them to control land use and stop encroachment by outside agriculture or settlement.
Local employment & capacity building
Community members are forest scouts and monitors, fostering local stewardship and skills development.
Biodiversity and ecological connectivity
It protects a wildlife-rich corridor linking the Yaeda Valley to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, supporting threatened species and broader ecosystem health.
Award-winning global recognition
International honours, including the United Nations Equator Prize, for innovative, community-centred climate and conservation outcomes.
Responding to challenge
- Deforestation
Caused by shifting agriculture and the illegal clearance of forests this land use change undermines biodiversity, releases CO2 and threatens the very existence of local people and the Hunter Gatherers way of life.
- Land rights – securing long-term land tenure
The project finances capacity building to strengthen land rights across the Hadza’s ancestral homelands and the Datooga villages. This ensures confident delivery of the project by communities with full agency on their own land eho benefit from their long term stewardship.
- Cultural protection and regeneration
The Hadza are unique and are some of the last Hunter Gatherers on earth. They are the ‘last of the first’ – a living link to a way of life that all our ancestors shared some 40,000 years ago. Over 1,000 Hadza still live in balance with nature across the Yaeda Valley.
Project Documentation
For a transparent overview of the project’s progress and impact, the latest annual report
is available for download.
Full technical documentation, including the Verification Statement and Project Design Document (PDD), is available to all clients and partners through the dedicated Client Hub.