Lesotho

National Climate Change Programme    

Lesotho is a member to a number of international treaties including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. 

Lesotho signed the UNFCCC at the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and ratified it in February 1995. The main objective of the Convention is to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere at a level that would not endanger the existence of life on earth, as they directly contribute to Climate Change.

 According to its commitments under the UNFCCC, Lesotho prepared a report containing its programmes firstly to contribute to the conservation of the global climate and secondly to adapt to climate change. This report was contained in the document entitled “ Lesotho: First National Communication to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” submitted in April 2000.  Lesotho was the fifth country in Africa and 23^rd among the developing countries to submit its report. The report illustrates that Lesotho is characterized by a highly variable climate and is also extremely vulnerable to climate change. Climate change would affect negatively all components of the natural environment, including Agriculture, Water Resources, Health, Biodiversity, Desertification, Soils, Rangelands and the Basotho culture. Indeed Article 4 of the Convention identifies mountainous countries, with a fragile ecosystem such as Lesotho to be a special case of countries highly vulnerable to climate change.