News

This year marked the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 76) opening in New York on 14th September 2021. The UNGA High-Level Week took place from 20-24 September 2021 under the theme: “Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainability, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United nations”.

In 2021, Lesotho launched ReNOKA (“We Are a River”), a national and active citizen movement to advance integrated catchment management (ICM) in Lesotho and the Orange-Senqu River basin. A kick-off event in Maloraneng on 16 September marked the beginning of operations in the Khubelu subcatchment, a vital water source area of the Senqu basin.

A strategic partnership between the National University of Lesotho (NUL), the Integrated Catchment Management Coordination Unit (ICU) and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) was signed on Tuesday the 21st September 2021 at the National University of Lesotho through a Memorandum of Understanding. The partnership will strengthen professional education, applied science and innovative research for integrated catchment management in Lesotho. The signed Memorandum of Understanding provides, for the first time, a framework for collaboration involving all faculties and institutes of NUL for the purpose supporting integrated catchment management in Lesotho.

Shweshwe is one of the most iconically Southern African fabrics. Like ReNOKA, it marries traditional with contemporary.

The world-renowned Basotho tribal blankets have a deep cultural significance and history. They are unique in terms of the layout of the design, the various symbols used, the bold colour combinations and the characteristic pin-stripe.

As a subsistence farmer, ‘Maliako noticed the negative impact the environment was having on crop yields. By problem-solving together with other women in her community, ‘Maliako now employs better farming practices and hopes to reverse the effects of climate change.

By using learnings from the present and the past, herder Phate was able to bring his community together to take meaningful steps to mitigate the soil erosion he had noticed.