This study examined assumptions surrounding the issue of community-based
natural resource management (CBNRM) projects in southern Africa. Data were drawn from
the village of /Xai/Xai in Ngamiland (North West District), Botswana, a multi-ethnic community
consisting mainly of Ju/’hoansi San and Herero located on the Botswana-Namibia border
in the northern Kalahari Desert. The /Xai /Xai people formed the /Xai/Xai (Cgae Cgae)
Tlhabololo Trust in 1997, the first of its kind in Botswana. An examination of the /Xai/Xai
Trust’s activities and implementation over time reveals some of the complexities of CBNRM
projects, including those relating to management, transparency, benefit distribution, equity,
and the impacts of decision-making on local people. Gender, ethnicity, and class issues are
examined along with the problem of elite capture of resources, the tendency of the state to favor
private companies, the challenges of conflicting government policies, and power relations
at the local, district, and national levels. The analysis shows that if CBNRM projects are to be
successful, then community-based institutions and their members as well as district councils
and the central government must be able to come to agreements about benefit distribution,
ways to resolve conflicts, provision of investment in livelihood-related activities, and security
of tenure over land and resources.