In rural northern Botswana, the Basubiya have lived as agro-pastoralists and hunters for
over a century and a half. However, the effects of colonialism, independence, and modernization
have limited their access to both local wildlife and international cattle markets. Adding to the
strains of a desert environment and one of the highest Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) rates in Africa, the Basubiya must deal with the
inherent conflict of living adjacent to a protected wildlife park and the roaming fauna that devour
their crops and livestock. The concept of Community Based Natural Resource Management
(CBNRM) was first introduced to Botswana in the late 1980s as a proposed solution to the
economic ills of rural populations and to remedy the poaching trends that developed as villagers
and wildlife became antagonists in the land reforms and conservation efforts of the first half of
the twentieth century. Two Decades later, CBNRM is established in Community Based
Organizations (CBO) throughout Botswana, but the first experiment in CBNRM is still
struggling to meet its intended goals.