In Lesotho, wetlands are critical in producing and supplying water across the region. The highlands of Lesotho generate water that flows through neighboring South Africa and into Botswana and Namibia. While Lesotho occupies only 3.4 percent of the basin area, it contributes over 40 percent of the mean annual runoff. Lesotho's water sector contributes an estimated 8 percent to its GDP. These highland wetlands are also biodiverse and unique vegetation ecosystems that store extraordinary amounts of carbon in their deep, peaty soils. However, increasing droughts and floods have diminished hydropower potential, reduced revenues from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) due to reduced stream flows, and temporary interruption of water transfers to South Africa. Sustained land degradation, soil erosion, and increased demand for ecosystem services threaten the health of Lesotho's wetlands and cost the country nearly 3.6 percent of GDP per year. 

PROGREEN aims to strengthen integrated catchment management (ICM) practices in Lesotho through targeted technical assistance, the development of data tools, and knowledge exchange. The country knowledge program will focus on three key areas: governance and incentive structures, green and resilient road infrastructure, and building its knowledge base. This program's activities complement two ongoing World Bank engagements, including the Lesotho Lowlands Water Development Project - Phase II and the Lesotho Transport Infrastructure and Connectivity Project. In addition, proposed activities create an entry point for the World Bank to engage with the Government of Lesotho on a possible sustainable landscape management operation in the future. 

This program on integrated catchment management (ICM) closed in Fiscal Year 2023. Under the governance pillar, PROGREEN supported an assessment of Lesotho’s institutional framework and mapping of stakeholders involved in ICM. The network analysis was instrumental in improving coordination among catchment management stakeholders and expanding existing ICM coordination bodies to include the Ministry of Public Works. In support of the green and resilient road agenda, the project team conducted a climate risk and vulnerability assessment of the road network. As a result, Lesotho's Road Directorate is better informed about how the country's road networks can support rather than impede the health of its ecosystem services. The knowledge will also equip the Road Directorate to mainstream integrated catchment management and climate adaptation into road transport design and maintenance and guide investment in future road infrastructure. Moreover, the program developed a series of virtual knowledge events to leverage and strengthen the ICM Coordinating Unit, including training on ecosystem services for ICM. The catchment managers responsible for developing annual management plans all received training on the ecosystems-service approach.