By Staff Reporter
As one of the least developed countries, Lesotho ranks 14th among the world’s countries that are most vulnerable to challenges related to climate change, but is 151st in terms of capacity to combat the phenomenon.
The country has always been over-reliant on rain-fed agriculture for food production and has a large poor rural population engaged in subsistence farming, which is relatively undiversified.
And, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, vulnerability in Lesotho is characterized by high population pressure on the available arable land and natural resources, fragile and substantially degraded soils, high levels of food insecurity and poverty, and lack of infrastructure which curtails the ability of the population to deal with severe weather conditions.
At grassroots level, local authorities have a crucial role of strengthening local level adaptation work and increasing the systematic support from national level; this included improving guidance, access to stable funding, and information for local adaptation.
However, local councils in parts of Lesotho bemoan lack of coordinated support from the central government, which makes it difficult for them to respond speedily to weather-induced challenges, thereby hampering adaptation efforts.
In the Siloe Council in the Mohale’s Hoek district, projects aimed at strengthening the community’s resilience are in full swing.
They are spearheaded by the government’s Improving Adaptive Capacity of Vulnerable and Food Insecure Populations in Lesotho (IACOV) programme. This is a four-year initiative bankrolled by the Adaptation Fund to the tune of M150million and implemented by the ministry of forestry, range and soil conservation and the Lesotho Meteorological Services with the technical support of the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP).
The IACOV project is aimed at tackling obstacles of climate change adaptation by strengthening government’s capacity in early warning signs while insuring that optimal knowledge and utilization of climate information are tailored to community needs.
Under IACOV’s guidance, the community of Ha Masuhloane in Siloe has successfully rehabilitated previously eroded and untenable land. Although the land is not back to its original state, it is surely on the road to recovery and is already being used to produce crops.
According to IACOV field officer, Tṧoanelo Olifant, the project is implemented in Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek and Quthing. These districts were hardest hit by the extreme heat and drought by brought about El Niño – a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean – in 2015.
“Siloe, in particular, lost so much soil that it was in danger of becoming a desert. WFP and its partners engaged the community to devise ways to mitigate the impact of the damning drought. The first step was to erect stone lines and sit traps to rehabilitate the land. This has proved successful as in less than three years, the land was restored to its original state and is now completely covered in vegetation and trees. The problem of land degradation was compounded by overgrazing.
“Next was protection of the local water sources by constructing stone and cement tanks. The water now safe to for human consumption and was certified as such by experts. The people use it for household purposes and to water the vegetables on these fields. The result has been a dramatic in vegetable production, and improved food security for the people.
“The community members who work on the communal farming project are selected by the local power structures, based on their degree of vulnerability. They take turns to work for three months and receive a monthly incentive of M1200. They contribute M100 towards a savings funds, which they later invested in income-generating projects like poultry and pig farming,” Olifant said.
Local councillor, Phuthehang Mokote, waxed lyrical about the project, describing it as a lifeline that has saved vulnerable households from the throngs of poverty and hunger.
“The problem was so grave that it led to displacement. Villagers who could no longer harvest anything from their eroded fields migrated to look for survival opportunities as far afield as South Africa, leaving their children behind to their own devises. Out of desperation, male children would resort to petty crimes to survive, while girls engaged in transactional sex, sometimes with older men, leading to a soar in teenage pregnancies and child marriages.
“However, the biggest challenge we continue to face as local authorities is that of lack of decentralisation. We are unable to effectively implement adaption programmes we have to contend with underfunding and red tape.
“Yes, we do have climate change in our plans and identify potential measures to combat its effects in our community. We plan, draft the required budget and submit it to the ministry of local government and chieftaincy.
“But, the funds do not come to us directly. From the ministry of finance, the money goes through the ministry of forestry and then the district council. We only receive it around September and, by then, the damage is usually too much. The only solution is decentralisation; until then, our hands remain tied,” Mokote lamented.
The Commonwealth Secretariat suggested in 2008 that local governments can play an important role in mitigating the causes of climate change and adapting to predicted challenges through local level policy and citizen engagement. Financial and other capacity development mechanisms need to be diversified to support local governments in this role.
Natural and human-related climate change negatively impact economic and social development. Inaction against climate change can cost between 5 and 20 per cent of global GDP. Additionally, climate related natural disasters have increased five-fold over the last 30 years, most affecting the poorest populations. The effects of climate change are of particular concern in the Commonwealth States where many of the fastest growing cities are on the coast. Additionally, the many low-lying atoll nations face flooding and population relocation issues.
Local level governments benefit from proximity to the community that makes them the most accessible authority when disaster strikes. Additionally, local level government possesses the most up-to-date knowledge on the local environment and population. While international and national climate change policies are still the norm there is increasing attention to the role of local government. “Combating climate change at the local level requires governments to create local climate change plans. Successful plans include both adaptation and mitigation elements. Combining spontaneous
