Climate Change Adaptation in the Lesotho Highlands: Annual Report Year 5 (October 2014 – September 2015)

The project's overall goal was to enhance the resilience of communities and ecosystems in the Highlands. Establishment of innovation committees was a key strategy in the project's close-out phase. These committees were designed to be inclusive of local leaders, farmers, livestock owners, and other community members. Their main responsibility was to maintain dialogue on climate change adaptation and promote the incorporation of adaptation into all levels of development and planning by the community. Capacity development activities were undertaken with each innovation committee to help them understand their roles and responsibilities. These activities included raising awareness about the need for adaptation to climate change, discussing adaptation interventions, and reviewing processes undertaken to develop adaptation strategies earlier in the project. The climate change adaptation game, Adapt-Able, was applied during these events as a mechanism for building capacity. The project achieved a number of successes, including awareness and capacity development of approximately 3000 people through the actions and activities of the project at village, council, and national levels. Demonstration sites and educational events addressing livelihoods, ecosystems, and agriculture resilience were also established. Up-scaling the successful adaptation interventions of the project is now a priority to facilitate adaptation to the impacts of climate change at a meaningful scale across the Highlands. The new phase of the project focuses on developing financing mechanisms to support the up-scaling of climate change adaptation interventions in the Highlands. This includes broadening the scope of adaptation and mainstreaming climate change adaptation into sectoral policies, as well as broadening the geographic coverage of the adaptation interventions across the Highlands. The project aims to enhance the resilience of communities and ecosystems in the Highlands through the development of financing mechanisms that support the up-scaling of climate change adaptation interventions. Innovation committees were successfully established at the pilot sites, and capacity development activities were undertaken with each to help the committees understand their roles and responsibilities. These capacity building activities addressed raising awareness about the need for adaptation to climate change, discussing adaptation interventions, and reviewing processes undertaken to develop adaptation strategies earlier in the project. The climate change adaptation game, Adapt-Able, was applied during these events as one of the mechanisms for building capacity. The project's successes include the establishment of numerous demonstration sites and educational events addressing livelihoods, ecosystems, and agriculture resilience. Awareness and capacity development of approximately 3000 people were achieved through the actions and activities of the project at village, council, and national levels. The project's achievements demonstrate the importance of building the capacities of local communities, NGO networks, and government departments to understand and adapt to the likely impacts of climate change.