VI. Conclusions and recommendations

A. Respect for cultural diversity

89. Legislation and policy related to natural resource use and management, particularly that related to hunting and gathering rights and access to conservation areas, should be reviewed and reformed, in accordance with international human rights norms, to accommodate the traditional cultural patterns of non-dominant indigenous peoples, many of whom were displaced during the creation of conservation areas and continue to face exclusion from those areas.

C. Historical grievances

96. The Government should reorient its policies and laws regarding land use, conservation and wildlife management to accommodate the subsistence needs and cultural practices of communities that have been dispossessed of access to lands or resources by policies and measures such as the Tribal Grazing Land Policy and the creation of conservation and wildlife management areas. 

D. Central Kalahari Game Reserve

97. The decision by the High Court of Botswana in the case of Roy Sesana and Others v. The Attorney General, concerning the removal of Basarwa and Bakgalagadi communities from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, highlights the failure of the Government to adequately consult with indigenous peoples in significant decisions affecting them and to respect their rights to traditional lands and resources. The Government should fully and faithfully implement the Sesana judgement and take additional remedial action in accordance with international standards relating to the removal of indigenous peoples from their traditional lands. Such remedial action should include, at a minimum, facilitating the return of all those removed from the reserve who wish to do so, allowing them to engage in subsistence hunting and gathering in accordance with traditional practices, and providing them the same government services available to people of Botswana elsewhere, including, most immediately, access to water.

98. Indigenous people who have remained or returned to the reserve face harsh and dangerous conditions due to a lack of access to water, a situation that could be easily remedied by reactivating the boreholes in the reserve. The Government should reactivate the boreholes or otherwise secure access to water for inhabitants of the reserve as a matter of urgent priority.

99. The Government has taken steps to negotiate with relevant stakeholders to resolve the situation of the people removed from or still living in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. However, further efforts in this regard are required. The Government should work to ensure the effective, direct participation in the negotiations of all affected indigenous communities and allow them to be assisted in the negotiations by legal counsel or to receive other technical support available to them if they so choose. Additionally, the Government should provide adequate financial and logistical support to ensure the effective participation of the stakeholder indigenous communities.