November 2021

A tale of two watersheds

Written

Summer is here, the sun is up early and goes down much later. The ReNOKA team overseeing the implementation of emergency rehabilitation measures in some of the degradation hotspots around the country took great advantage of the changing season to engage with prospective contractors at these hotspots in the Priority Sub-Catchment areas to show them the work at hand.

Maseru, 25 November

A field trip by a ReNOKA team has demonstrated the visible impact of watershed rehabilitation.
GIZ regional technical advisor Ntate Tesele Taole, an expert in resource conservation and development, showed how the Ha-Khabo watershed, in the Hlotse sub-catchment in the Upper Mohokare Catchment, is more successful in holding water compared to the neighbouring Ha-Lehloba watershed, which has deep gullies caused erosion.

The difference is that the community members of Ha-Khabo has introduced terracing and put rocks along the contour of a steep slope to slow the movement of water so it can soak into the soil. This watershed is already more fertile and able to retain water and other nutrients.

The Ha-Lehloba community has begun placing stones and boulders in the gullies in an attempt to slow down the water runoff, and have introduced terraces as a control measure.

The team ReNOKA team also saw clear evidence of the need for change in land use. They passed the fenced Lets’eng diamond mine where livestock can’t roam, compared to unfenced areas with evidence of over-grazing and land degradation.

ReNOKA (‘we are a river’) is a national programme and citizen movement for the restoration of land and water in Lesotho and the Orange-Senqu basin. Support for ReNOKA is provided through a partnership between the Government of Lesotho, the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The EU and BMZ contributions are implemented through a technical assistance project “Support to Integrated Catchment Management in Lesotho” by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Visit the ReNOKA website at www.renoka.org

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Press contacts

Makomoreng Fanana
National ICM Coordinator, ICM Coordination Unit
makomoreng.fanana@renoka.org

‘This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Integrated Catchment Management unit and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)’

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