Maseru, 8 March
The findings of a policy review of Lesotho’s integrated catchment management (ICM) framework were released in March 2022. ReNOKA stakeholders gathered to hear the results of work by legal and policy consultants, and to discuss next steps for effective governance of land and water resources.
Among priorities for legal and policy harmonisation presented by the National ICM Coordination Unit, were a revision of Lesotho’s 2008 Water Act to define arrangements for catchment management, based on the 2014 Long Term Water and Sanitation Strategy. Other proposals include:
- Enactment of policies, regulations and strategies to operationalise ICM according to set roles and mandates. This might include an update to the LTWSS or development of a new ICM-specific policy / master plan
- Support decentralisation efforts through by laws to regulate land and water use and performance-based grants for Community Councils
- Inclusion of progressive elements for water resource management in line with ReNOKA principles, in all legislative and policy initiatives, such as a systematic reflection of climate and disaster risk in catchment planning processes, the role of ecosystem services for IWRM / ICM, a systematic valuation of ecosystem services and resilient livelihoods in Lesotho’s catchments
- Development of a guideline for gender sensitive and rights-based implementation of ICM action plans at catchment and local level
Please find here the presentation by the National ICM Coordination Unit with the full set of priorities policy harmonisation, as well as the Synthesis Report of the external policy review, and the presentation of key findings by the consultants.
