April 23, 2026
New York
The following is a statement delivered at the 25th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues by Cultural Survival grant partner, Samuel Stanley, from Botswana. Samuel is Chairperson of the Indigenous Ink Network and the Director of the Indigenous Youth Summit.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished Members of the Forum, Excellencies, Indigenous brothers and sisters.
By Nichodimas Cooper (Nama, CS Journalism Fellow)
By Kuela Kiema (Dcui Bushman)
The Kalahari Bushmen are Indigenous to southern Africa, where they lived for time immemorial, depending on hunting various species of wild animals and gathering plant roots and fruits. Today, the San are found in southern African countries, including Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Nama in our community are dedicated to preserving and promoting our rich cultural heritage while supporting sustainable development initiatives in Botswana. The main objective is to safeguard Traditional Knowledge, language, and customs, ensuring that they are passed on to future generations. This can only be achieved through educational programs, cultural festivals and partnerships with like-minded local and international stakeholders.
Cultural Survival recently visited one of our Keepers of the Earth Fund Grant Partners, The San Youth Network (SYNET) in Botswana.
On January 27, 2011, Botswana’s Court of Appeal reversed a ruling that denied the Kalahari Bushmen access to water on their ancestral lands. The Bushmen appealed a 2010 High Court judgment that prevented them from accessing a borehole. The new ruling not only gave the Bushmen rights to use the borehole, but also gave them the right to drill new ones and ordered the government to pay the Bushmen’s court costs.
On July 21, the Botswana High Court ruled against the San Bushmen, barring them from re-opening a vital waterhole in the Kalahari desert, which is key to their way of life and survival.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
