Chapter 3 Approach/Methodologies

3.1 Guiding principles

The guiding principles are drawn from a number of documents, including: The Constitution of Lesotho, Lesotho Vision 2020, The National Strategic Develop Plan II 2018-2023, the National Communications to UNFCCC, and the principles outlined in the UNFCCC ‘Technical guidelines for the national adaptation plan process.’

a. A country-driven approach.	Country-driven approaches inspire ownership and ensure that plans, programmes and activities are aligned with national priorities.
b. Equality, justice, and transparency	Lesotho’s Constitution states that it shall adopt policies aimed at promoting a society based on equality and justice for all its citizens, and that the State shall take appropriate measures in order to promote equality of opportunity for the disadvantaged groups in the society to enable them to participate fully in all spheres of public life. Transparency is an important principle of good governance and promotes public and private sector participation in development projects.
c. Protection and sound management of the environment	Article 36 of the Constitution of Lesotho states that it “shall adopt policies designed to protect and enhance the natural and cultural environment of Lesotho for the benefit of both present and future generations and shall endeavour to assure to all citizens a sound and safe environment adequate for their health and well-being”.
d. Gender and social inclusion, and particular consideration of marginalized groups such as women	Lesotho’s NSDP II mainstreams Climate Change, Environment, Gender and Social Inclusion across all sectors, recognising that these are crucial for the realization of inclusive growth.
e. Contribution to sustainable development	Sustainable development serves to meet the country’s needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Lesotho, in its Vision 2020, lays a very strong emphasis on sustainable development, and is implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals which have been domesticated in the National Strategic Development Plan II. Development gains are threatened by high vulnerability to global warming and the impacts of climate change, so adaptation planning and implementation of planned adaptation measures are important the country is to remain on the development pathway.
f. A participatory NAP process involving stakeholders	Stakeholder participation is necessary for buy-in, ownership, involvement in, and support of planned activities. Lesotho aims to strengthen & promote private sector and civil society participation in managing development, and to ensure the equal participation of men and women and vulnerable groups in economic opportunities, participation in policy making, and other decision-making structures.
g. A multidisciplinary and complementary NAP approach, building upon relevant existing plans and programmes	Multidisciplinary and complementary approaches are important in the NAP approach because the issue of adaptation is itself multidisciplinary and cross-cutting. The country has mainstreamed climate change issues in its development plans because it has implications for employment creation and economic growth since its impact on various economic sectors such as agriculture, health and nutrition, tourism and natural resources has been well established.
h. Incorporation of science, technology and indigenous technical knowledge (ITK)	It is important to incorporate and to build capacity, through a gender-sensitive lens, in this area that is cross-cutting in climate change adaptation. New knowledge from assessments and emerging science, as well as the results and lessons learned from implemented adaptation measures, are important, iterated inputs to the NAP process.
i. Education and training	The priority projects identified in the NAP contain various activities that are related to building capacity to address climate change, such as improving institutional and human resource capacity, strengthening early warning systems including data and modelling capacity, improving climate change education and awareness, and developing and/or strengthening policy frameworks to address climate change – all of which are strongly emphasized in the country’s development plans.
j. Mainstreaming of climate change adaptation across all sectors	Lesotho’s NSDP II mainstreams Climate Change, Environment, Gender and Social Inclusion across all sectors, recognising that these are crucial for the realization of inclusive growth.
k. Cost-effectiveness	This is important as the country can make savings that can go a long way to expand or scale up its programmes and frees finances for other programmes and activities.
l. Simplicity, and flexibility of procedures based on the country’s circumstances	Simplicity is important where actions are planned in multidisciplinary and multi-institutional/multi-agency contexts coupled with strong involvement of the public and private sector, communities and individuals. Flexibility is important, as adjustments can be made to improve different aspects of implemented programmes.
m. Alignment with the GCF country programme.	This alignment is important in order to improve access to funds such as the Green Climate Fund. Such alignment would include coherency with the national climate change policy and related strategies and plans, coherence with existing policies, capacity of the executing entity to deliver, and stakeholder consultations and engagement.

3.2 Guidelines used

The main guidelines used included:

The Technical Guidelines for the National Adaptation Plan Process, UNFCCC – this was used as the primary document for framing of the structure and content of the NAP. It also requires that the NAP process: follows a country-driven, fully transparent, approach; is based on and guided by the best available science and, as appropriate, traditional and indigenous knowledge; and facilitates country-owned, country-driven action and not be prescriptive, nor result in the duplication of efforts undertaken in-country.
National Climate Change Policy 2017-2027
Lesotho National Communications to the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC
Lesotho Vision 2020
The National Strategic Develop Plan II 2018-2023
Lesotho’s Nationally Determined Contribution 2017
National Adaptation Plan of Action 2007
NAP Stocktaking Report 2015.
Lesotho Resilience Strategic Framework 2017
Guidelines for integration of climate change into National , Sectoral and Local Policies, Strategies and Development Plans 2018

In addition, and following the experiences gathered from the implementation of the NAPA process, the Technical Guidelines recommend: * using locally defined criteria for ranking vulnerabilities and prioritizing project activities, which will build confidence and buy-in across all stakeholders; * using available data and assessments as a basis for more comprehensive assessments; and * engaging national experts, as this will also enhance the experience and capacity of the country. * Using findings from past and ongoing projects midterm reviews

These were supported with emerging new data from the published literature. The assessment of these documents together included:

Process of identification/stocktaking of desirable and available information
Climate and socio-economic data and information

Current assessments: Exploring possibilities for further assessments
Policies, strategies, plans
Existing initiatives on adaptation

Resource mobilization for the process.

3.3 A systems approach to adaptation

Systems are complex, and each system interacts to various degrees with other related systems. Sectoral interventions have not been as successful as desired because they do not take into account the interactions of system components, including the fact that the mandate to manage some components of the system may lie in a different sector, and hence come under a different institutional mandate whose primary goal is not necessarily in tandem with those of another sector, and more often than not, there is very little synergy between sectoral programmes.

Urban areas, for example, are complex since many social, physical and economic systems meet and interact, with many of these extending well beyond its spatial boundaries, e.g. water and power supply systems, while other linkages may be transboundary. It is important, therefore, that National Adaptation Plans capture these systems and their interlinkages, scale and stakeholder diversity, so that appropriate and synergistic adaptation measures can be devised and implemented. Thus, the NAP process uses a systems approach which facilitates the integration of climate change adaptation, in a coherent manner, into relevant new and existing policies, programmes and activities, in particular development planning processes and strategies, within all relevant sectors and at different levels, as appropriate.

The framework to guide the assessment of vulnerabilities and risks included:

Conceptual framework of vulnerability and risk at various levels: national, system level, local level, etc.
Boundary conditions for the assessment using the period 1971-2000 for baseline climate
Focus on key systems/sectors
Synergy with SDGs, Sendai Framework for DRR, and other relevant regional and national frameworks.

3.4 Other unique considerations

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 disrupted, globally, established societal structures and ways of doing things, and has had devastating impacts on human health, stressed health systems and severely disrupted national economies. A UNDP 2020 study “Assessment of the Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Kingdom of Lesotho” highlights the high levels of vulnerabilities of individuals, families, and the whole economy with projected overall negative GDP growth for 2021, and the gaps in health systems and infrastructure. This Open NAP initiative has been developed with some steps of the NAP process being omitted, in particular; it has not been possible to apply and get GCF readiness funding, and extensive consultations with stakeholders have not been undertaken because of personnel unavailability due to lockdowns, and challenges of mounting online surveys and poor internet access as well. It is hoped that the situation will normalise soon and the GCF funding can then be used to continue this process and to produce the next NAP.

3.5 Road Map

This particular process was initiated in 2015 with a stakeholder engagement workshop (Figure 1). During the same year, stocktaking was undertaken to assess the available information on climate change, its impacts, vulnerability of people and ecosystems, and adaptation to climate change impacts. A gap assessment relating to these aspects was undertaken, along with assessment of the needs and capacity to adapt. Key resource persons were identified to work on the NAP from 2017 through to 2021, the target year for having the draft NAP in place.

Figure 1: NAP roadmap.