Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Aquaculture Management for Dams Communities Livelihoods
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that 1. the communities around the clean water dams are violating natural resource regulations as well as fishing rules, 2. limited private investment is being realized.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
There is a high economic potential sensitising investment and job creation in this sector. Aquaculture has been identified within the NSDP-II as one with potential which has led to LNDC prioritizing aquaculture as one of the investment and export areas. The country is currently open for investments in aquaculture and the Lesotho Accelerator Lab wants to explore opportunities embedded in this sector, given the already available clean water resource available in abundance. The Lab also leverage on success on trout farming within the country, which has open export markets in Lesotho, Japan, South Africa and United Kingdom. Currently, there are two private companies operating in Katse dam, employing local experts and members of the local communities. Extending similar investment to other three (3) major dams, Mohale, Metolong and Polihali, can increase job opportunities in Lesotho, particularly for highlands population who are at risk of livelihoods due to climate change challenges prohibiting subsistence farming activities. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this sector has a number of gaps that require AccLab approaches for learning to explore and package opportunities for investment engagements.
The communities around the main highlands dams are already making livelihoods on aquaculture. The communities are allowed to have fresh protein from these dams hence improving their food security. The solutions mapping in this sector will assist the AccLab to support relevant stakeholders on how to orchestrate expansion of same benefit to communities living in proximity to other highlands dams for improved livelihoods setup and food security. Accelerator Lab exploration is also aligned with natural resource governance, to learn how water resources are governed for investment and local consumption. The Lab will also investigate issues of biodiversity, identifying solutions which can deter exploitation of natural resources, particularly, the organic brown trout species found in abundance in Katse dam. The same specie was found in Sehlabathebe region in Qacha’s Nek, unfortunately, Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed that it is no longer available due to community consumption which was violating fishing regulations.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Huge boost for Lesotho trout farming (publiceyenews.com) Find Fisheries expertise in Lesotho (commonwealthofnations.org) Aquaculture | Lesotho National Development Corporation (lndc.org.ls)
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
There have been a number of challenges relating to management of water resources, fishing regulations and general natural resource governance around freshwater dam communities. Communities are allowed only to fish for consumption and without using fishing nets. communities are also allowed to only fish brown trout which is not marked for exports. All these regulations are being violated daily due to many factors. The lab seeks to learn more about the existing gaps, opportunities and ultimately the solutions related to these challenges.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
There is currently a need to vigorously influence concrete legal framework for the sector. Although there is a draft bill, an active legal document guiding the sector is the Proclamation on Fresh Water Fish of 1951. The other supportive legal documents include:
i) Livestock Policy of 2021
ii) Environment Act of 2008
iii) LHDA Order of 1986
iv) Fishing Regulations of 1999
v) LHDA Fisheries Regulations
The lab intends to influence policy and legal framework review to address the emerging challenges and dynamics of the 21st century.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
The AccLab in Lesotho is supporting the government and partners to expand aquaculture opportunities through building new value chains and livelihoods safety-nets for the dam communities in rainbow trout fishing.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security - Department of Fisheries
What sector does our partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
To support the communities to come up with long-lasting solutions in building sustainable livelihoods through aquaculture
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
The AccLab seeks to establish gaps, baselines, identify community solutions and key opportunities for building sustainable livelihoods value chains and scalability in aquaculture and finally building equity and promoting local investment.
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Community interviews
Focus group discussions to gather insights
Knowledge exchange
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
There is currently limited or no data in Lesotho relating to aquaculture. The Bureau of Statistics has not been able to harvest compelling data that could be used for programming
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
The dam communities
Small scale fish farmers
END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.
8Decent work and economic growth
12Responsible consumption and production
14Life below water
