water resources
Keeping Elephants out of Water Sources
An article in the Namibia Economist last week indicated that the Ju/’hoansi in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy are using donated funds to build stone walls around village water facilities to protect them from elephants. The Conservancy has around 18 water points which need to be shared among the human residents and about 1000 – 1500 […]
Challenges to the Batek
Bernama, the news agency of the government of Malaysia, produced two stories about the Batek last week, the first of which reported a distressing incident. The news service report on November 3 concerned a herd of wild elephants that had destroyed the water system for a village. Over 300 residents of Kampung Aring 5, in […]
Ladakhis Prepare for Climate Change
It took a little over a week for the Ladakhis to spring into action. After the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] issued a report on the perils that changing climate conditions pose to the Hindu Kush/Himalayan region of Asia, several groups in Ladakh announced an action plan to deal with the crisis. Ladakhis […]
A Time of Stresses in the Kalahari
An increasing number of G/wi and G//ana residents of New Xade, a resettlement community in western Botswana, say they want to return to their former homes in the Kalahari Desert. Jumanda Gakelebone, a prominent advocate for the rights of the long-suffering San people and now the councilor for New Xade, which is in the Gantsi […]
Water for the Ju/’hoansi
Since the Ju/’hoansi have become mostly settled farmers and herders, they need access to reliable water for their own uses and for their livestock. In the past, when they used to move about from place to place in the Kalahari Desert, their movements were often dictated by access to water, both for themselves and for […]
Water for San People
A prolonged dry spell in the Kalahari Desert has prompted proposals to drill boreholes for wildlife but advocates for the San people argue that they too need more water. The apparent conflict between the needs of wildlife and of the G/wi and G//ana people, the predominant San societies in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) […]
Potential Improvements for the G/wi
The government of Botswana continues making the right noises about improving the lives of the San who remain in their ancestral areas of the Kalahari Desert. News about the way Botswana has started taking some responsibility for helping the G/wi and G//ana San people—at least for ending its repressive policies toward them—was reported in this […]
Thai Passion for Water
Rural Thai society depends so much on abundant rainfall and numerous rivers to grow rice and fish that water is often featured in their national holidays and family events. Last week, Pattaya Today, a newspaper from the tourist city of Pattaya, published an interesting PR piece generated by the Tourism Authority of Thailand that described […]
Joy in a San Community
Jumanda Gakelebone, a spokesperson for the San people, indicated that they are in a joyous mood, celebrating the opening of a new borehole for the community of Mothomelo. “Our dignity and right as a people has been restored,” he said. But, he added in a more somber spirit, it is also appropriate to remember those […]
G/wi Will Soon Get Water
The Gem Diamonds Company announced last week that it will be helping finance and drill four boreholes to provide water for the G/wi and the other San communities in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This latest development appears to be closing a nasty chapter in the history of San conflicts with the dominant societies of […]
