Implications of changes to the transhumance system for conservation of the mountain catchments in eastern Lesotho

Abstract

The mountain catchments above 2 750 m a.s.l. in eastern Lesotho are a proclaimed Managed Resource Area (MRA) as a result of official concern about degradation of the grasslands of the alpine belt, and of recent parastatal interventions in the local livestock economy. However, the demarcation of the MRA may be inappropriate because it ignores recent changes in the transhumance system which threatens to cause greater degradation of the grasslands in the subalpine belt, particularly in the lower subalpine zone. In response to a variety of ecological and social factors, Basotho have modified the transhumance system by establishing winter grazing posts in this zone which lies between the summer grazing post areas in the subalpine zone and the alpine belt and the villages. The former areas are now used more intensively than the latter areas, thereby increasing the potential for greater degradation in the lower subalpine than in the upper subalpine zone and in the alpine belt. It is argued that the conservationist perspective, by which the MRA was demarcated needs to be broadened to include these lower valleys in view of these ecological dynamics.