"Double sustainability" in Botswana and South Africa: the case of the san in the central Kalahari game reserve and Kgalagadi transfrontier park

The question of land access rights for indigenous peoples is now a prominent
theme in the management of large parks and game reserves in Africa. This comparative
study addresses different government responses to this question regarding land
dispossession of the San in Southern Africa. Ancestral lands of this unique and
marginalized indigenous population had been rendered off limits by the creation of
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) in South Africa and the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana. In more recent years, the government of Botswana and
the post-apartheid government of South Africa have pursued quite divergent approaches
to addressing the question of renewed San access rights in the parks. Central to the
comparative analysis in this study is the degree to which South Africa and Botswana have
embraced the concept of “double sustainability” in park management, which emphasizes
the protection of biodiversity and people’s livelihoods at the same time.