WRITTEN QUESTION P-2473/02

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(30 August 2002)

Subject: Support for bushmen in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana

Can the Commission confirm, giving details, whether the Botswana Government is using or intends to use EU development assistance to support the resettlement of Kalahari bushmen, which, as MEPs found, is happening against their will? Does the Commission accept that this is in contradiction with its own 1998 Working Paper on Indigenous Peoples? Will the Commission review this issue and, in particular, give positive consideration to providing assistance to support alternative development so that the Kalahari bushmen may remain on their ancestral lands, if all parties are able to agree?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(25 October 2002)

The Commission wishes to confirm that it would not agree to any reported Government intention to use Community development assistance to support the resettlement of Kalahari Bushmen (also known as Basarwa or San peoples) against their will. In fact the Commission has not received any request to this purpose form the Government of Botswana and is not aware of any such intention of the latter.

The Commission has in its frequent contacts with the Government of Botswana expressed its concern over the rights of these people and insisted that there must be no coercion or excessive inducement (e.g. for resettlement) and that the own choice of the indigenous people must be respected.

This position is in conformity with its own Working Paper of May 1998(1) and the Council's Resolution of November 1998 recognising i.a. indigenous peoples' communal and undeniable ownership of the territories they traditionally inhabit and that they have the right to choose their own development path, which includes the right to object to proposals in particular in their traditional area.

Initiatives like the Community supported Wildlife Conservation and Management Programme (WCMP), which the Honourable Member refers to, come within this scope and the Commission will continue the dialogue with Government institutions at all levels on the issued relocation.

Two aspects of the above mentioned WCMP intervention appear of particular interest. Firstly, the main aim of this development operation is not the provision of a specific support to any particular ethnic group nor to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Therefore, the programme is not directly related to the question of the Basarwa. It aims at supporting and improving the conservation and sustainable use of the country's protected reserves and adjacent areas through activities in Ngamiland, Ghanzi District as well as parts of Central and Kweneng District.

Secondly, it is important to clarify that EUR 1 million (out of a total of EUR 14 million) will be provided in the form of a Community Development Grant Fund. Access to resources will be demand driven and all Basarwa or other communities in the target areas, protected or adjacent, can submit proposals for support for economically viable and environmentally sustainable development alternatives for these local communities. Potential project ideas include, but are not limited to, activities related to the generation of income and the development of infrastructure. Capacity building measures within local communities are also foreseen. Indeed, communities will be trained and strengthened so as to enable them to develop their own institutions, manage and monitor resources and negotiate in their own interest with the private sector, government institutions and others. This last aspect is considered of crucial importance for the effective empowerment of local communities.

Following discussions with the Government of Botswana earlier this year, it appears that Basarwa, even if residing outside the CKGR, may be permitted to develop activities that include the sustainable use of resources within the reserve. The Commission will follow up on this option within the context of the new programme once it is fully operational towards the end of 2002.

(1) SEC(98) 773 final.