Lesotho: Tackling water insecurity in a changing climate

This policy brief, published by the Stockholm Environment Institute in 2016, evaluates the performance of Lesotho's water management system and explores adaptation strategies to address water insecurity caused by climate change and urbanization. It specifically examines the trade-offs between the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which exports water to South Africa, and the need for domestic, industrial, and agricultural water security within Lesotho.

• Water is a critical economic driver for Lesotho, with the water sector contributing approximately 8–10% to the national GDP. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) alone has generated nearly US$800 million in revenues since 1996 and facilitated investments exceeding US$3 billion.
• Lesotho faces significant water insecurity due to natural climatic variations and inadequate infrastructure. While urban areas have 72% access to clean water and rural areas have 63%, urbanization is straining these resources. The country is vulnerable to extreme weather, including the largest floods since the 1930s in 2011 and the most severe drought on record in 2015–16.
• Climate modeling for the period 2041–2050 indicates a certain rise in average mean surface air temperatures, ranging from 0.8°C to 2.9°C. However, precipitation projections are highly variable, with 64 scenarios predicting drier conditions and 57 predicting wetter conditions, ranging from a 20% decrease to a 20% increase relative to the historical annual average of about 760 mm.
• Without further infrastructure development, Lesotho's domestic and industrial sectors will face significant water deficits, with shortages exceeding 15% of demand in over half of the projections by 2050. Additionally, meeting water delivery commitments to South Africa would become increasingly difficult, with transfer deficits occurring in 49% of climate scenarios between 2041 and 2050.
• The development of the Polihali Dam under Phase 2 of the LHWP is identified as a key measure to reduce the risk of failing to meet water delivery commitments to South Africa, lowering the occurrence of transfer deficits to 13% of climate scenarios. This development also supports more robust hydropower production.
• The Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme (LLWSS) is critical for improving the resilience of the domestic and industrial sectors. Implementing the LLWSS, along with expanding irrigation for 12,000 hectares of land, could increase food production by up to 50% (adding 70,000 to over 100,000 tonnes per year) without jeopardizing water transfers to South Africa.
• While transfers to both South Africa and Botswana could be reliably met in stable or wetter climate scenarios, a trade-off would exist between the two destinations under drier climatic conditions.

APA

Huber-Lee, A., Galaitsi, S., Davis, M., Wishart, M., & Emenanjo, I. (2016). Lesotho: Tackling water insecurity in a changing climate. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WB-PB-2016-Lesotho-water-climate.pdf

Chicago

Huber-Lee, Annette, Stephanie Galaitsi, Marion Davis, Marcus Wishart, and Ijeoma Emenanjo. Lesotho: Tackling water insecurity in a changing climate. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2016. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WB-PB-2016-Lesotho-water-climate.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Huber-Lee |first1=Annette |last2=Galaitsi |first2=Stephanie |last3=Davis |first3=Marion |last4=Wishart |first4=Marcus |last5=Emenanjo |first5=Ijeoma |title=Lesotho: Tackling water insecurity in a changing climate |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WB-PB-2016-Lesotho-water-climate.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{huberlee2016lesotho, author = {Huber-Lee, Annette and Galaitsi, Stephanie and Davis, Marion and Wishart, Marcus and Emenanjo, Ijeoma}, title = {{Lesotho: Tackling water insecurity in a changing climate}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WB-PB-2016-Lesotho-water-climate.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }