Supporting effective regional and transboundary linkages - Integrated Catchment Management in Lesotho and the SADC region (GWPSA Open Special Session)

Water is central to socio-economic development and ecosystems; however, with a growing population, urbanisation, and economic growth driven by industrialisation, the resource is increasingly becoming threatened not only in Lesotho, but the SADC region as a whole. Lesotho is at the headwaters of the Orange-Senqu River Basin, and is the "water tower" of Southern Africa, and all water-related challenges and interventions have an immediate effect downstream in the Orange-Senqu river basin. In collaboration with SADC and GIZ, GWPSA will ensure that effective regional and transboundary linkages are made in the current phase of the GIZ programme "Transboundary Water Management in the SADC region" (TWM), which is supporting the national Integrated Catchment Management programme in Lesotho as a member state IWRM "flagship initiative". The Lesotho Integrated Catchment Management project contributes to transboundary water management in the region – as Lesotho is at the headwaters of the Orange-Senqu River Basin. The interventions proposed by GWPSA respond to the implementation of the ORASECOM IWRM Plan and Strategic Action Plan, and will connect ICM measures implemented in Lesotho to regional policy frameworks adopted at the SADC level and international good practices.

Implementing IWRM at regional, national and local levels will ensure adaptation to climate change, contributing to improving climate resilience. The overall objective of the Lesotho ICM project is "to ensure that ICM facilitates socio-economic development and adaptation to climate change in Lesotho" with the specific objective that "ICM is institutionalised and under full implementation in Lesotho based on gender equality and climate change adaptation principles".  A number of partners are working with GIZ and the government of Lesotho to deliver national level integrated catchment management initiatives to deliver on these two objectives. GWP SA's main contribution will be providing the regional dimension to the IWRM approach, and implementation will be aligned to four output areas.

• Output 1: A harmonised policy framework for integrated catchment management
• Output 2: Effective, efficient and inclusive institutions
• Output 3: Human, capacities, skills and knowledge
• Output 4: Implementation of watershed rehabilitation and conservation measures 

The special session sets the stage for project implementation, outlining the project rationale, conceptual approaches and situational analysis of the current status across the four output areas. It outlines the technical approaches and methodologies that Lesotho intends to use to advance ICM, and that the region could explore