The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small, land-locked country in southern Africa that is surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Lesotho has approximately 2.2 million inhabitants and has experienced major development challenges such as extreme poverty, high unemployment and a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS. These challenges are exacerbated by the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. For example, Lesotho is experiencing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events — particularly droughts, heavy rainfall and snowfall events, and hailstorms. These extreme conditions are hindering national development, disrupting critical public services and detrimentally affecting rural livelihoods. The Government of Lesotho (GoL) has consequently recognised the need to implement adaptation initiatives to manage the threat of climate change.

In this context, the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process was officially launched in October 2015 with a two-day, multi-stakeholder workshop. In addition, a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) and a National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) have been developed for Lesotho to facilitate improved adaptation planning and implementation. However, several barriers have impeded progress to date, including limited: i) institutional capacity at national and district levels to implement and monitor the NAP process; ii) coordination and knowledge-sharing between relevant institutions and stakeholders; iii) information available to inform adaptation planning and decision-making; iv) integration of climate change issues into policies and development plans; and v) adaptation funding. The GoL is therefore requesting assistance from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to advance the NAP process.

To address the identified barriers, the proposed GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support project will implement activities according to five priority outcomes, namely:

• institutional capacity and stakeholder engagement processes for adaptation planning in Lesotho strengthened;
• climate change information generation, analysis and dissemination enhanced;
• national capacity for mainstreaming climate change adaptation into policies, plans and strategies strengthened;
• enabling environment for financing of the NAP process enhanced; and
• national capacity for monitoring and reporting on the NAP process enhanced.

Throughout implementation of these outcomes, the proposed project will engage with and benefit a wide range of stakeholders across all sectors and levels of government. Beneficiaries will include national- and local-level government, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, private sector actors, academia, and ultimately, local communities. Project outcomes will collectively contribute towards reducing vulnerability of these groups to the impacts of climate change and building adaptive capacity in Lesotho. By integrating climate change adaptation into new and existing national and sectoral policies, plans and strategies, the NAP process will also promote long-term sustainability. In addition, existing institutional structures, coordination procedures and financial mechanisms will be strengthened to prevent duplication and to build on the progress already made by the GoL.