Rethabile Pitso
GOVERNMENT ministries met with stakeholders on Friday to coordinate efforts to redress land degradation which poses a serious threat to food security and the livelihoods of farmers in Lesotho.
The European Union (EU)-supported initiative brought together ministries of Water, Forestry and Soil Conservation, Local Government and Chieftainship, Agriculture and Food Security as well as representatives of the United Nations Development Programme and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
Friday’s meeting was one of a series held since November 2015 and scheduled for conclusion next month. Held under the theme ‘Implementation of Integrated Catchment Management in Lesotho’, the meetings are part of efforts to turn the tide on soil-degradation which has seen up to 4 500 tonnes of fertile top soil (or up to 300 lorry loads) being carried away in rivers flowing into South Africa.
Department of Water Affairs Director, Motoho Maseatile, told the Sunday Express on the sidelines of the event that this year, the meetings would focus on Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) – a subset of environmental planning which approaches sustainable resource-management from a catchment perspective, in contrast to a piecemeal approach which artificially separates land-management from water administration.
“This initiative comes it was realized that our individual efforts towards addressing these matters will not yield sustainable results,” he said.
“Different government ministries are carrying similar activities towards addressing such issues but independent of each other.”
In February this year, a delegation of eight government officials and EU experts visited Ethiopia for a week-long study tour funded by the EU.
“The Lesotho delegation was invited to Ethiopia because of similarities in landscape and terrain between the two countries,” said Mr Maseatile.
“Ethiopia has been doing well in addressing soil erosion, so the ICM team is yet to apply some of the recommendations made during that trip.”
He said land degradation was caused by overgrazing, indiscriminate gathering of wood for fuel, and unsustainable land-use, among other reasons.
“Most of our soil is eroded by over-grazing and unprotected wetlands among other ills. There are solutions to these challenges which have already been discovered but we will all have to discuss the best way for their implementation.”
The EU also provided a technical team of three experts who have been in the country since October 2015 to assist in the implementation of Lesotho’s ICM strategy. The trio, from the Netherlands and United Kingdom, is expected to finish its tour next month.
EU experts have warned that by 2040, the country would be reduced to a virtual wasteland incapable of supporting agricultural activities if the current rate of soil erosion is left unchecked.