Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
? The project intents to reverse the norm by creating a bigger room for district governance personnel to participate at strategic points of discussing achievements and challenges.
? The approach to involve the Principal Chief to pronounce project milestones at the public gatherings will enhance participation at all levels.
Project sustainability
Environmental sustainability is of utmost importance in the highlands of Lesotho as they host major wetlands and water sources, significant biodiversity hot spots, rangeland resources that sustain the mainstay of the mountain economy - wool and mohair production. The Association is a strong link in the sustainable use of land and water resources in the region and thus it is keen to continue engaging in all conservation interventions that form the very base of their livelihoods. The Association is recognized as one of the key stakeholders in safeguarding the range resources in the upper reaches of the Khubelu River, by the Department of Water, the Department of Range Resources and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and the local authorities.
Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous peoples? concept is not applicable to Lesotho. However, in the interest of local community participation, the following holds: Significant participation will initially be induced by having open discussion sessions about the project in its kick-starting stages. Discussing progress and challenges openly and sharing the achievement of targets. This will be complemented by study tour to a places where other communities are successfully achieving results under nearly similar circumstances.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
Socio-economic or alternative livelihoods activities spinning out of the project implementation are:
1. Ecological recovery of the rangeland brings with it biodiversity that opens up a plethora of opportunities of environmental services, goods and attractions.
2. Improvement of livestock implies access to livestock bi-products that has a potential to boost the local economy.
3. Re-introduction of livestock auctions will bring immediate reversal of access to cash.
Policy Influence
The National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDPII) identifies Environment and Climate Change Mainstreaming into Policy and Programming as a cross-cutting outcome. Two of the interventions listed under this outcome are, "enhance watershed management programmes" and "increase productive capacity of rangelands." While Outcome 1.1 on Sustainable commercial agriculture and food security has improvement of management of range resources as one of its strategic objectives. The intervention like others implemented by grazing associations within the priority landscape is contributing towards rehabilitation and sustainable management of rangelands, with the overall objective of improving their productive capacity. Furthermore, the intervention is complementing the government relief programme on brush control and also towards attainment of the objectives of the national integrated catchment management project meant to safeguard the land and water resources of the country.
Capacity - Building Component
The highlands community are only partly aware of their impact on the land.
? The interventions will introduce a management aspect that they have mostly taken for granted as a given.
? Monitoring on agreed intervals, is something that needs addressing through capacity building.
? Piloting of an initiative prior to a full-blown activity needs workshopping to provide capacity at the community level.
? Mid-term review and performance evaluation are aspects for which community participation needs capacity building as these are critical building blocks in any intervention.
Planning non gef grant
The project falls within the upper reaches of the catchment for Phase II of the transboundary Lesotho Highlands Water Project, that entails construction of the Polihali Dam and reservoir. The partnership already established by the Association and the Department of Water Affairs under the Khubelu Sponges Project will continue for years to come as the Association is key, among other stakeholders, for safeguarding the life of the envisaged Dam. Furthermore, the Ministry of Water Resources is rolling out an integrated catchment management (ICM) programme under European Union Support. The Programme has a community grants component. The SGP Secretariat participates, together with UNDP, in the Development Partners Forum on Environment, Natural Resources and Resilience Forum which meets quarterly, coordinated by GIZ under the auspices of the ICM Programme. It is the intention of the SGP Secretariat in Lesotho to support all grantees to take advantage of the community grants to upscale achieved results.
Policy Impact
While land is communally owned, and increasingly utilized by subsistence farmers, the project, through multi-stakeholder participation, aims to improve individual responsibility for opening and certification to farmers? land-use practices.
Gender Focus
Women are ascribed to more domestic role and more docile type of tasks, while men undertake external and highly challenging tasks. There is already some transformation as women are involved in management in the association and are also involved in livestock activities such as classification of livestock bi-products and marketing. They are engaged in outdoor activities such as brush control and erosion control structures construction. The project will further open opportunities in strengthening their participation in dialogue in the conservation debate by publicly discussing project progress.
Notable Community Participation
Youth are involved in the project at three stages:
1. Part of the youth is the herders who are actually undertaking high-density grazing and mobile kraaling of livestock.
2. Part of the youth becomes involved on the environment day as well as the built-up to it.
3. Part of the youth becomes involved in public gatherings where project progress is discussed openly.
Project Results
- Bohale Ba Nkoe Grazing Association is one of the Mokhotlong grazing associations that were assisted by the District Coordination Office for Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation, to respond to a call for proposals issued by the SGP way back in 2017. With a total membership of 387 (214 men; 86 women; 87 youth), through Matsema (community work) about 42 ha of rangeland has been cleared of alien invasive shrubs, thus reclaiming the degraded rangeland and improving its productive and carrying capacity. This , the Association achieved through physical uprooting of the invasive shrubs and through crowd grazing/high density grazing. The regeneration of grass cover has provided some protection to a further 21 ha of cropland through reduction of runoff velocity.
- The Association is among those that benefitted from being awarded a planning grant to enable them to seek assistance for elaboration of a project concept into a full proposal that meets the SGP criteria. Through a capacity grant awarded to a local NGO, the Association enjoys mentorship and close supervision. Through the CD project, the Grazing Association has been equipped with various skills: financial management, leadership and conflict management, sustainable rangeland resources management and development and implementation of range management plans. The overall effect is that there are less conflicts among members.
- Because of non-compliance to agreed grazing plans; Senqu River sources/wetlands are badly degraded due to uncontrolled grazing. To enforce compliance penalties for trespassers were increased more than a 100 fold, thus compliance has improved. The locally established penalties have been challenged in local courts and this is adding to the national debate on the need to review Range management regulations/legislation. The Association has now joined forces with the local community policing team. Furthermore the route to Senqu Wetlands/sources has been changed and regular expeditions are undertaken to monitor progress.
- To demonstrate renewable energy technologies and to protect women from firewood smoke related risks, a revolving solar lights income generating scheme has been initiated with 70 households benefitting from this pilot scheme with the hope of buying more lights from the proceeds to provide more households with solar lights.
