05/06/2026
This World Environment Day, under the global theme , we honour and advocate for the communities who have sacrificed their land, livelihoods and environment to make way for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
From Phase IA and Phase IB, the dam infrastructure and its reservoirs have significantly altered community landscapes, ecosystems and weather patterns. Communities around the affected areas have reported noticeable climate changes, including colder temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and more unpredictable and extreme weather conditions.
Across Phase II areas, families continue to face the loss of fields, grazing lands, forests and other natural resources that have sustained generations. They also experience reduced access to clean water, ongoing dust pollution, damaged homes, crop losses, water challenges and deep uncertainty around relocation and compensation.
For these communities, this means a double burden, long-standing development impacts exacerbated by the escalating pressures of climate change. Without urgent intervention, these intersecting challenges will deepen inequality, food insecurity and livelihood loss for already vulnerable communities.
📢 It is therefore critical that government, development authorities, financiers and implementing partners take urgent and sustained action to:
• Place community wellbeing and climate justice at the centre of development planning and implementation.
• Strengthen climate adaptation and resilience in dam-affected communities.
• Invest in environmental restoration including grazing land recovery and biodiversity protection.
