Project Detail

Ecological Recovery of Mateanong Rangeland wetlands in the upper Orange-Senqu Catchment

Project is a pilot to instigate ecological recovery of the Rapeising and Moiteling rangelands and wetlands supporting the Mateanong Wool and Mohair Association farmers and community under the Principal Chief of Khalahali. It constitutes three components: ?Brush control by the community at Rapeising Grazing area?; ?Practicing of Rotational High-Density Grazing of livestock by livestock owners (Farmers) during the summer months in the Upper Moiteling and Rapeising (ones this has become available for grazing) Grazing areas?; and ?undertaking ultra-high treatment with mobile-kraaling of livestock in the lower Moiteling, in the band immediately above the wetlands?. The fourth will be treatment of brush and valley-head cuts with placement of salt-licks at strategic points to encourage high livestock activity. Monitoring of the interventions over the pilot duration will be undertaken and a report compiled after Twenty-Six (26) months. The experiences, challenges, resolutions and lessons learnt will be compiled and made available for decision making on replication and up-scaling catchment wide and across the region.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Mateanong Wool and Mohair Growers Association

Country:

Lesotho

Area Of Work:

Land Degradation
Land Degradation
Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

OP6 - Y3 (Jul17 - Jun 18)

Grant Amount:

US$ 40,875.00

Co-Financing Cash:

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 24,962.00

Project Number:

LSO/SGP/OP6/Y3/CORE/LD/2017/16

Start Date:

12/2017

End Date:

12/2020

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

? The project intents to reverse the norm by creating a bigger room for district governance personnel to participate at strategic points of discussing achievements and challenges. ? The approach to involve the Principal Chief to pronounce project milestones at the public gatherings will enhance participation at all levels.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples? concept is not applicable to Lesotho. However, in the interest of local community participation, the following holds: Significant participation will initially be induced by having open discussion sessions about the project in its kick-starting stages. Discussing progress and challenges openly and sharing the achievement of targets. This will be complemented by study tour to a places where other communities are successfully achieving results under nearly similar circumstances.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Socio-economic or alternative livelihoods activities spinning out of the project implementation are: 1. Ecological recovery of the rangeland brings with it biodiversity that opens up a plethora of opportunities of environmental services, goods and attractions. 2. Improvement of livestock implies access to livestock bi-products that has a potential to boost the local economy. 3. Re-introduction of livestock auctions will bring immediate reversal of access to cash.

Capacity - Building Component

The highlands community are only partly aware of their impact on the land. ? The interventions will introduce a management aspect that they have mostly taken for granted as a given. ? Monitoring on agreed intervals, is something that needs addressing through capacity building. ? Piloting of an initiative prior to a full-blown activity needs workshopping to provide capacity at the community level. ? Mid-term review and performance evaluation are aspects for which community participation needs capacity building as these are critical building blocks in any intervention.

Policy Impact

While land is communally owned, and increasingly utilized by subsistence farmers, the project, through multi-stakeholder participation, aims to improve individual responsibility for opening and certification to farmers? land-use practices.

Gender Focus

Women are ascribed to more domestic role and more docile type of tasks, while men undertake external and highly challenging tasks. There is already some transformation as women are involved in management in the association and are also involved in livestock activities such as classification of livestock bi-products and marketing. They are engaged in outdoor activities such as brush control and erosion control structures construction. The project will further open opportunities in strengthening their participation in dialogue in the conservation debate by publicly discussing project progress.

Notable Community Participation

Youth are involved in the project at three stages: 1. Part of the youth is the herders who are actually undertaking high-density grazing and mobile kraaling of livestock. 2. Part of the youth becomes involved on the environment day as well as the built-up to it. 3. Part of the youth becomes involved in public gatherings where project progress is discussed openly.

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