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Mar 15
2009
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Masai land rightsPosted by Bruce Robinson in wildlife , resources , policy , legislation , land rights , international , history , government , families , environment , economy , community , business , animals , agriculture , Africa , activism |
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Western concepts of property rights don't mesh well with the nomadic lifestyle of East African tribes like the Masai -but it's possible that eco-tourism can.
Elias Morandot and his wife, Mary, have been visiting California and reporting on the circumstances that face their Masai people as guests of Global Partners for Development, a Rohnert Park based non-profit that provides heath, educational and economic development assistance to small rural communities in East Africa, including Morandot's villagage of Arkaria (seen below.)
A more detailed analysis of the Maasai tribal land rights issue can be read here.
Ngorogoro Crater is one of the most popular destinations for tourists to see African wildlife within the Masai people's traditional territory. Two others are Seregeti National Park and the MasaiMara National Reserve.
Volunteer peacekeepers, including a Santa Rosa woman, are helping to hold down the violence in some key international hot spots, as part of the Nonviolent Peace Force.
Linda Sartor and 
Just about everyone agrees that preserving California's productive agricultural lands is a good idea, even if there have been some highly charged disagreements over the best means to accomplish that objective. Sidestepping these policy debates, California FarmLink is working directly with farming and ranching families to help them decide what they want to do with their lands from one generation to the next, as reported on today's North Bay Report:
Shrinking real estate values in California are prompting some ag families to re-evaluate their plans for their land. But Steve Schwartz, Executive Director of California FarmLink, says the shifting economic climate also holds some unexpected opportunities for new farmers to get established.
Today has long been identified as the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, but the documents that would verify that don't really exist.
Former Sebastopol resident John McKinsey, author of The Lincoln Secret, has been writing fiction, and non-fiction alike nearly his entire life. He is the co-author of an undergraduate textbook, Understanding the Law, that teaches college students the basic legal workings of life in the United States. McKinsey is a graduate of Analy High School, California State University, Sacramento and the School of Law at U.C. Davis. He lives in Northern California with his wife and has done extensive travel and research to gather information for this piece of historical fiction. 
