Lesotho PM takes water and climate issues to the United Nations

by | Oct 5, 2021 | Impact stories

World leaders have heard Lesotho prime minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro link poverty and livelihoods directly to climate change and land degradation, with integrated catchment management cited as a key mitigation measure.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022, he said “this greatest challenge of our time manifests through excessive rainfall, desertification, hurricanes, land degradation… diminishing our capability to eradicate poverty and improve livelihoods”.

He said biodiversity losses and ecosystem degradation were among the top threats facing humanity, and called for urgent and bold global actions to combat climate change.
The onus is on world leaders to ensure earth does not lose its biodiversity as this poses a threat to food security and livelihoods.

Lesotho, Dr Majoro said, had joined the rest of the world to increase climate change resilience through mainstreaming climate change into development programs and implementing measures for adaptation and climate risk reduction, mitigation and low-carbon.
Lesotho’s noteworthy initiatives included integrated catchment management, Dr Majoro told the world leaders.

The Kingdom of Lesotho has embarked on a national movement for Integrated Catchment Management under the brand “ReNOKA” which means in Sesotho – we are river. It aims at the protection and conservation of water resources, preservation of Lesotho’s wetlands and ecosystems, reduction of soil erosion and desertification, rejuvenation of agricultural lands, and improvement of the resilience of Basotho and their livelihoods in the light of climate change.

Support for ReNOKA is provided through the partnership between the government of Lesotho, the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through a technical cooperation programme, “Support to Integrated Catchment Management” (ICM) in Lesotho which is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

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