Restoring San rights in the Central Kalahari
A four-phase roadmap to restore ancestral rights to 52,000 km² of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, within a community-led conservation co-management framework.
The largest land return in Africa's protected areas
The Government of Botswana has committed to recognising the right of return of San forcibly evicted from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve between 1994 and 2006. The commitment draws on the planned ratification of ILO 169, the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur, and the interim findings of the Inter-Ministerial Basarwa Committee.
Successfully implemented, this will be the single largest structured land return to an Indigenous population inside a protected area anywhere in Africa, and it will create the largest protected area on the continent managed under a unified, Indigenous-led conservation co-management framework.
A complex legal and political landscape
- Legal alignment. Reconciling the 2006 High Court and 2011 Court of Appeal rulings with the broader "right of return" and the obligations arising from ILO 169 — including collective territorial rights and recognition of traditionally used areas, not only permanent settlements.
- No statutory pathway. Existing legislation offers no straightforward route to clarify settlement, tenure and usufructuary rights in a manner consistent with ILO 169.
- Conservation management. Developing a community-based conservation model that meets the ambitions of CKGR populations while protecting a globally significant biodiversity landscape.
- Inter-community dynamics. Managing the complex relationships between established CKGR residents and communities resettled three decades ago in New Xade, Kaudwane, Rakops and Xere.
- Service delivery. Restoring water, education and health services in settlements accessible only by hours of unpaved track.
Four phases over four years
Community mandate & technical scoping
- Establishment of a legally recognised community representative body bringing together CKGR-resident and resettled communities
- Formation of an Office-of-the-President authorised Inter-Ministerial CKGR Task Group
- Baseline settlement, ecological and service-gap assessments
- Interim service delivery plan: borehole rehabilitation, satellite schooling pilot, mobile health pilot
Heads of Agreement
- Negotiated Heads of Agreement between Government and CKGR communities establishing legal rights, territorial scope and governance framework
- Resource use and conservation model, including CBNRM framework for biodiversity conservation
- Long-term services delivery framework for water, health and education
- Eligibility framework for right of return; visitor vs resident distinctions; influx safeguards
- Identification of key donor and institutional support partnerships
Legal instruments & management planning
- Drafting and enactment of enabling legislation for settlement, governance, tenure and conservation
- New CKGR management plan — the first since the 2002 EC/Government plan — incorporating CBNRM principles and updated ecological baselines
- Co-management structures formalised; mandates and procedures adopted
- Community organisation capacity to assume custody of new rights
- Submission of major proposals for international conservation and climate finance
Implementation & partnerships
- CKGR management plan adopted and operational
- Co-management framework live; structures, mandates and procedures in place
- Long-term services permanently operational — water, education, health
- Institutional CBNRM, tourism and donor partnerships activated; conservation finance flowing
- CKGR positioned as a flagship community-based conservation landscape
Communities as the principal beneficiaries
The restoration of rights vests a welfare-dependent population with a vast natural asset base, and provides a framework for the investment needed to manage it. CKGR communities will:
USD 400,000 – 690,000 over four years
The programme supports Anthropos as the technical partner responsible for designing, coordinating and executing the structured, time-bound roadmap. It is scaled to leverage implementation finance at multiples of its value — from conservation finance, bilateral agencies and multilateral bodies — once the legal and governance architecture is in place.