Lesotho will on June 5 be joining the world in celebrating World Environment Day under the theme ‘land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience’. In collaboration with the ministry of environment and forestry, ReNOKA will be creating a platform for dialogue to discuss environmental issues on the very day.
In this interviewwith theReporter’s Neo Kolane, the national integrated catchment coordinator of ReNOKA, Makomoreng Fanana, unpacks the programme’s continuous efforts to manage lands, water and related resources.
What is ReNOKA?
ReNOKA is a multi-stakeholder national programme between the government of Lesotho and European Union on sustainable management of land, water and related resources that facilitates socio-economic development and adaptation to climate change.
What are the organisation’s objectives?
To develop and apply an effective and efficient, gender-sensitive and climate-resilient policy framework for Integrated Catchment Management (ICM).
To establish effective and efficient institutions for integrated catchment management, with equitable representation of women and youth.
To facilitate capacity, skills and knowledge of public, private sector and civil society for sustainable ICM.
To implement integrated catchment management measures.
To strengthen capacity for coordination, monitoring, supervision and general programme management.
How is ReNOKA celebrating World Environmental Day this year?
We’ll celebrate this day by highlighting that the protection and health of the environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world.
The celebration of this day provides an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment in collaboration with the ministry of environment and forestry, ReNOKA will be commemorating World Environmental Day by creating a platform for a dialogue to discuss environmental issues.
What does this year’s theme “land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience,” signify?
In our context, this theme highlights the importance of implementing strategies that not only restore degraded land and combat desertification but also build resilience to droughts in a holistic manner.
As ReNOKA, we implement sustainable land management practices such as reforestation, soil conservation, and water harvesting techniques to restore degraded land and combat desertification. Additionally, we incorporate drought-resilient farming practices, such as crop diversification and efficient water use, to build resilience to droughts in the catchment areas.
ReNOKA embraces a new way of thinking that sees land, water, people and infrastructure as one interconnected system that must be managed collectively; how does it do this?
‘ReNOKA’ is an active citizenry movement that aims to engage, unify and inspire all communities living and working within the Orange-Senqu River Basin to act together to protect and restore land and water for the shared prosperity of the catchment and its people. We, therefore, develop and apply an effective and efficient, gender-sensitive and climate-resilient policy framework for integrated catchment management.
We strive for the population of Lesotho to benefit from water availability and quality for all domestic, rural, industrial, or agricultural users; sustainable water and land management; the reduction and reversal of land degradation and soil erosion; and contributions to advance the resilience to climate change impacts.
How is ReNOKA working with communities across Lesotho to protect the environment?
Our principles are as follows:
- Multi-stakeholder and participatory approach
- Holistic and integrative approach
- Decentralized approach (Subsidiarity)
- Balanced approach
- Evidence based approach
- Human-rights based and socially inclusive approach
Therefore, as ReNOKA, we establish and capacitate community structures namely, the Village Watershed and Community Watershed Teams.
These teams comprise of all resource user groups (grazing associations, water committees, wool and mohair growers’ associations, etc) within our catchment areas.
The ICM council action plans are developed by these community structures with the technical guidance of line ministries at catchment areas.
What other areas are you focusing on?
Skills and knowledge: we launched a master’s programme in ICM and water resources management course with the National University of Lesotho.
We launched ICM mainstreaming in non-formal and basic education curriculum with the ministry of education and training.
Gender mainstreaming and youth inclusion in the programme in collaboration with the ministry of gender, youth and social development.
Livelihoods Projects: ReNOKA is supporting livelihoods projects that include development of savings and internal lending communities groups, farmers learning centres, Innovation groups, marketing groups, certified service providers and monthly farmer’s market to promote improved agricultural practices, marketing and commercialization of small- scale farming products.
ReNOKA in February celebrated World Wetlands Day as part of efforts to foster an understanding of the importance of wetlands. What activities did you undertake to mark this day?
ReNOKA together with the department of water affairs and Southern Mountains Association for Rural Transformation and Development are in joint efforts to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet as part of wetlands commemoration.
What efforts are you making to preserve wetlands across the country and are these paying off?
ReNOKA together with key stakeholders developed ICM council action plans at sub-catchment level.
These council action plans included among others, wetlands conservation, restoration and protection.
At national level, we annually develop operational plans which included wetlands protection with relevant stakeholders such as department of water affairs, Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, department of range resources management and the ROLL Project.
This multi-stakeholder and participatory approaches effectively and efficiently enable stakeholders to make their own decisions by planning, implementing and monitoring progress together.
Is Lesotho doing enough to deal with environmental challenges confronting the country? What else needs to be done to beef up current efforts?
Lesotho through the ministry of natural resources has developed an enabling environment through the ReNOKA programme initiative, where different stakeholders and key players in land, water and related resources are brought together to manage our natural resources effectively and efficiently. Institutionalisation and mobilisation of resources to the programme can sustainably address environmental challenges faced by our country.
The government has to fast-track capacitating the councils to be able to execute their mandates fully
It has emerged that some huge projects are implemented without a prior EIA, and the results are usually unpalatable. What role, if any, does ReNoka play in ensuring that the requirement for EIA’s is adhered to?
As a multi-stakeholder programme, ReNOKA through its processes, is facilitating the development of Integrated Catchment Management Development Plans (ICDMP’s) which take into consideration strategic developments that will occurs within catchment management areas. Components of this plan complements the EIA process as it forms part of Strategic Environmental Process.
ReNOKA has introduced to practitioners and decision-makers, Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (CRVA) and the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) which are important resources for assessing climate change and infrastructure risk and Improve risk-informed decision-making processes.
ReNOKA through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has partnered with the Lesotho Electricity Generation Company and has undertaken PIEVC assessment at Metolong Dam to protect public investments from land degradation and the effects of climate change.
Finally, role does it play in mitigating the disastrous effects of such projects on the environment?
ReNOKA has recently launched the Land Cover Atlas of Lesotho to offer insights into Lesotho’s land use and vegetation cover, serving as an extensive resource for stakeholders to understand and sustainably manage Lesotho’s natural resources.
The programme has also developed a compendium of soil and water conservation measures which is climate resilient. It has also introduced the planning guidelines which includes undertaking CRVA and PIEVC in the planning processes to inform project planning processes.
