Botswana: Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Lord Bishop of Oxford Excerpts

Monday 14th March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, my noble friend will recognise how difficult it is to combine maintaining the traditional hunter-gatherer way of life with economic development. The report of the UN special rapporteur on human rights for minorities talks about,

“economic and other development activities that align with the culture of the targeted communities, including hunting and gathering activities”.

The problem here is that once you start talking about education, medical assistance et cetera, you are moving away from traditional culture.

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth]

Does the Minister feel able to make an evaluation of the role of the mining interests in this area? Does he think that their role is helpful or frustrating in terms of achieving the desires of the indigenous people there?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, as we all know, these are extremely difficult issues. Botswana has done extremely well economically, and its wealth lies above all in diamonds. That wealth has been put to use for the benefit of economic development in that country; and last year Transparency International ranked Botswana as number 1 in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the transparency and non-corruption of its Government. I am assured that high commission officials from Britain regularly visit the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and that the current proposals from Gem Diamonds will not destroy the reserve.