Lesotho's Climate Action

Policy & Strategies

Lesotho developed her first National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) and its 5-year implementation strategy in 2017. NCCP serves as a framework for guiding climate-related actions in the country and outlines a country’s strategy, goals, and commitments in addressing climate change. 

Vision

The vision of the National Climate Change Policy is to build climate change resilience and low-carbon pathways including a prosperous sustainable economy and environment in Lesotho.

Objectives

The overarching objective of the policy is to ensure that all stakeholders address climate change impacts and their causes through the identification, mainstreaming and implementation of appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures, while promoting sustainable development.

The Process

Specifically, the policy fosters development of processes, plans, strategies and approaches that:

  • Promote climate-resilient, social, economic and environmental development that is compatible with, and mainstreamed into, national development planning and national budget-setting processes; 
  • Explore low-carbon development opportunities, nationally and internationally, in order to promote the sustainable use of resources; and
  • Strengthen a framework that promotes efficient climate change governance, strong international cooperation, capacity building, research and systematic observations, clean technology development, transfer and use, education, training and public awareness and financing in a way that also benefits the most vulnerable through the implementation arrangements to be defined in the strategy.

More on Policies

NCCP English
NCCP Sesotho
NCCPIS
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Lesotho Climate Change Unit

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The Lesotho Meteorological Services (LMS) is the national meteorological agency of the Kingdom of Lesotho. 

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Lesotho Meteorological Services
Options Building 2nd and 3rd Floor Pioneer Road | Maseru 100

+266 22324376

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The GEF Trust Fund constitutes the most popular source of climate finance in Lesotho, having funded over 42 projects, including both national and global/regional initiatives. In terms of focus, GEF funded projects have been geared broadly towards tackling the drivers of environmental degradation. As such, the major focal areas of the fund disbursement in Lesotho have been biodiversity; land degradation; climate change policies, strategies and plans; organic pollution and water – all of which are more or less in line with the fund’s priority globally. Direct climate financing from Global Environment Fund (GEF) is accessible through the Department of Environment, which is a GEF focal point in the Ministry of Defence, National Security and Environment. (Home | GEF)

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The Green Climate Fund has the potential to help countries like Lesotho meet their adaptation and mitigation finance needs. Currently, there is one cross-cutting GCF-funded project in Lesotho, among other three recipient countries – South Africa, Eswatini and Namibia. 

The project is geared towards addressing critical market barriers in accelerating private sector climate investments. Lesotho has also accessed five (5) projects under the GCFs Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme. The process for accessing funding under the GCF begin from an assessment of the needs of Lesotho and includes extensive stakeholder engagement. The fund is accessed through the National Designated Authority (NDA) and the Accredited Entity (AE) (Lesotho | Green Climate Fund).

 
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Like the Adaptation Fund, the Climate Investment Funds constitutes a climate funding stream that many African countries are not able to access. CIF is an enabler of pioneering climate-smart planning and climate action in low and middle-income economies, many of which are the least prepared yet the most prone to the challenges of climate change. CIF responds to the worldwide climate crisis with large-scale, low-cost, and long-term financial solutions to support countries achieve their climate objectives. In Lesotho, there is only a single project with finance from the fund. The project, entitled “Lesotho Renewable Energy and Energy Access Project”, is geared towards funding renewable energy investments. The fund is accessed through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Lesotho. (The Climate Investment Funds (CIF)).

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The Special Climate Change Fund is also being governed by GEF and Lesotho has not accessed funds as the fund is dry majority of the time. Lesotho as an LDC competes with other developing countries to access the funds. (Special Climate Change Fund – SCCF | GEF)

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The LDCF, which is governed by GEF, is a vital source of climate funds in the context of Lesotho. It constitutes the most significant finance stream in Lesotho, having funded national projects to the tune of over US$ 36 million as of 2022. Indeed, it is second in significance to the GEF Trust Fund only in terms of the number of nationally funded projects (8 national projects compared to 15 for GEF). Regarding sectoral distribution and focus of LDCF, the data suggests that LDCF resources are geared towards water resources management, enhancing the resilience of agricultural production and food systems, and climate information services and capacity building. (Least Developed Countries Fund – LDCF | GEF)

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The Adaptation Fund is one of the least accessed climate funds and Lesotho just accessed funds (count of US$ 10 million) through Word Food Programme as the accredited entity. The project, entitled “Improving adaptive capacity of vulnerable and food-insecure populations in Lesotho”, is being implemented and pertains to agriculture and food security. It is accessed through LMS and Accredited Entity (AF | Adaptation Fund)

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