Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Law, regulation and treaties · Botswana · 2014

Botswana's 2014 hunting ban also barred San hunters in the Central Kalahari

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

Botswana announced a hunting ban in 2014 that Survival International said also stopped San hunting, despite a 2006 court ruling against their eviction. Reports of a 2019 lifting and of elephant licences are not verified in the sources reviewed.

What?
Botswana announced a hunting ban in 2014 under President Ian Khama Survival International
Where?
Botswana; Central Kalahari Survival International
When?
Ban announced in 2014; court ruling in 2006 Mail & Guardian
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
  • Central Kalahari San (Bushmen) — barred from hunting under the 2014 ban, which covered them despite a 2006 court ruling Survival International
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
The government announced the ban; the sources reviewed do not describe how it was enforced. Survival International
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Survival International reported that Botswana announced a hunting ban in 2014 under then-president Ian Khama, who was on the Conservation International board at the time.

Survival International also reported that the ban covered hunting by Central Kalahari San (Bushmen), although a 2006 court had found their eviction from the area unlawful, as Mail & Guardian reported.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2006Claimant won
      Central Kalahari San eviction case
      Botswana court (name not given in sources reviewed) · Civil · Central Kalahari San (Bushmen) → Government of Botswana

      The court found the San's eviction from the Central Kalahari unlawful. The government put the number evicted at about 2,000 people, Mail & Guardian reported. Mail & Guardian

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Disputed Reported but not verified: in 2019 the government lifted the ban, citing about 130,000 elephants and rising human-wildlife conflict; in 2020 six licences for 60 elephants were offered at auction (Al Jazeera).
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: foreign hunters pay up to $43,000 per elephant, and hunting earned $2.7 million a year (VOA, 2021).
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: in 2024 Botswana threatened Germany with 20,000 elephants in a dispute over trophy hunting (AP).
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not say who received the hunting fees or how many elephants were hunted under the licences.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    1. Bushmen win battle for Kalahari home
      Mail & Guardian · 2006-12-13

    Communities and civil society

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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