Roughly one year ago, the Tanzanian government a multimillion-dollar tourism project funded by the World Bank, citing concerns over human rights violations. However, community members near the project in Ruaha National Park report that they continue to face violence by park guards. Civil society groups say the government threatens people with eviction. Local residents and representatives with the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based policy think tank, told Mongabay that rangers with the Tanzania National Parks Authority are still using excessive force against villagers and pastoralists. They also report that farmers are unable to access land they had used before the park boundaries were changed for the now-canceled tourism project. The World Bank Board approved a management action plan (MAP) in April 2025 to address such concerns; two people have since been killed. “The situation is very dire on the ground,” Oakland Institute’s Anuradha Mittal told Mongabay via phone, adding that promises to train rangers and the establishment of a grievance mechanism are not being kept. The MAP was supposed to address harms suffered by communities that filed complaints with the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, an independent watchdog. In September 2024, the panel concluded that the bank failed to follow key policies around resettlement and risk identification, finding that the project had not properly assessed or mitigated local impacts from the tourism project. A spokesperson from the World Bank told Mongabay by email that implementation of the MAP is “well advanced” and that a grievance mechanism was established. The spokesperson said local…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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