The Botswana Community Based Natural resource Management (CBNRM) approach tries to transform open access regimes into true common property resources in order to promote sustainable rural development. The approach is premised on the assumption that the communities will have an economic incentive to sustainably manage natural resources since the perceived benefits from them are supposed to exceed the perceived costs. This paper makes an attempt to improve the practice of the CBNRM approach by critically evaluating its performance, drawing on the perspectives of development studies. It examines the social sustainability of CBNRM initiatives in Ngamiland, and their impact on natural resource management.