By ‘Majirata Latela
A recent Auditor General’s report has clearly suggested that the department of water affairs (DWA) which is a division in the in the ministry of water has failed to adhere to measures put in place to protect and sustainably manage wetlands.
According to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)Wetlands are ecosystems located at the interface of land and water. They are seen in various forms such as marshes, lagoons, estuaries, mangroves, peatlands, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, floodplains, and deltas. As highly productive ecosystems, wetlands are vital parts of the water cycle and support rich biological diversity.
The Auditor- General, Monica Besetsa in the 2020 report has shown that DWA has not done enough to take care of the wetlands and the audit has revealed that Lesotho’s wetlands lack protection, monitoring and rehabilitation. She said that all wetlands visited the audit reveals that they are visibly drying out.
“There was also no coordination with key stakeholders hence more destruction of wetland by livestock and trespassers and finally as well as the vacant positions of key personnel that were supposed to drive management of wetlands.
“The general response by management was that the department of water affairs had indeed been unable to protect and sustainably manage wetlands during the time of the performance audit due to huge resource constraints of budget, transport and manpower.
“However, they mentioned that they have initiated and developed a frame work for Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) in Lesotho, 2015-2019 with the technical assistance of the European Union,” Besetsa said.
DWA is tasked with the responsibility to develop information, education and communication (IEC) materials to capacitate stakeholders on wetlands ecosystems and their management.
However, the audit revealed that DWS held public gatherings though not regularly. Interviews with farmers and herd boys revealed that only farmers’ associations attended public gatherings where they were taught about benefits and protection of wetlands but did not share the knowledge with their herd boys, instead let their livestock to cattle posts around protected wetlands hence continued destruction.
Management was encouraged to strengthen efforts in coordinating matters pertaining to management of wetlands with stakeholders to increase knowledge in protection and consequently reducing destruction and restoring the drying out of wetlands.
The report suggests an increase on the frequency of public gatherings to instil knowledge and remind the host communities to enhance ownership.
Lack of protection has led to trespassing and destruction due to livestock grazing, consequently wetlands were slowly drying out, it observed.
It was recommended that DWA should consider alternative protection measures such as use of drones and facilitate a legal framework for wetlands.
The audit further revealed that in twelve wetlands visited, Khubelu wetland in the Mokhotlong district was the only one that had recently undergone rehabilitation with support of GIZ while others were in a bad state of destruction.
The reason provided for non-rehabilitation was lack of resources, inaccessibility and lack of security for officers while on fieldwork against some community members. Consequently, wetlands were slowly drying out.
It was therefore recommended that management should direct resources and to collaborate with stakeholders for rehabilitation of wetlands.
Management’s response was that efforts to rehabilitate wetlands had been generally quite low due to limited resources although significant effort was made to rehabilitate Lekhalong-la- Lithunya, Kotisephola, Letseng-la-Letsie, Khubelu and Hermone-Ralintsi.
