A/HRC/24/41/Add.1 their ethnic identities. Overall, the Special Rapporteur was informed of and observed a lack of coherent Government policy that assigns a positive value to the distinctive identities and practices of these indigenous peoples. As discussed in this section, the major issues brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur relate to lands and resources, self-governance and participation, education, and health. Featured here are the challenges faced by the San communities, which generally are understood to be the most vulnerable of the indigenous peoples in Namibia, although concerns of other marginalized groups are also noted. A. Land and resources 18. In order to facilitate a stable transition from the previous apartheid regime and to promote reconciliation, Namibia adopted a purposefully cautious approach to land reform at independence. In 1991, the newly constituted Government of Namibia held a National Land Conference, during which it decided that land reform in Namibia would not include restoration of “ancestral lands”, but that it should assist disadvantaged groups, in particular the San, to acquire land in accordance with their needs, thereby setting the foundation for the development of future land reform laws and policies. Under the Namibian land reform scheme there has been some land restitution for particular groups in the years since independence, as discussed further below. However, still today, some 40 to 50 per cent of the landmass of Namibia is owned by less than 10 per cent of the population, the majority of whom are descendants of European settlers. 19. While the loss of land by indigenous peoples during colonialism and apartheid was pervasive, by all accounts San groups in the country experienced the greatest loss and resultant social, economic, and cultural disruption, the legacy of which has not been overcome since independence. Today, San people use and occupy lands in Namibia under several different kinds of arrangements, with varying levels of security and control over lands and resources, none of which are wholly adequate and without problems. These land tenure arrangements include communal lands, conservancies, resettlement farms and occupation of lands within national parks. 1. Communal lands 20. Today, approximately half of the total population of Namibia live on lands designated as “communal lands”, which make up around 40 per cent of the Namibian landmass. These communal lands, which were recognized following independence, are mostly constituted by the areas established by the Government of South Africa as “homelands” within its system of apartheid. Today, the Communal Land Reform Act (Act No. 5 of 2002) regulates the administration of communal lands, vesting ownership in the State of Namibia, but authorizing traditional authorities, in coordination with communal land boards, to allocate and administer the land for residential occupation, farming, grazing and other purposes.5 21. Only one homeland, Bushmanland, was reserved for San people prior to independence, with the town of Tsumkwe created as its administrative centre. This area comprised more or less the traditional hunting area (n!ore) of the Ju/’hoansi San and was occupied almost entirely by this group, although at the time of the establishment of Bushmanland, the Government of South Africa had planned to relocate other San groups into that homeland. 5 See, in particular, sections 20 and 21 of the Act. 7