Lesotho: Desertification Control Program - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 146

livestock owners will tend to manage and use their range management area
sustainably. There are big challenges facing this new policy however largely
rooted in group dynamics and political will.

Keywords Mechanical measures • Biological measures • Degradation • Reha-
bilitation and small scale irrigation • Overgrazing • Gullying • Water table •
Drakensberg • Alpine • South Africa • Orange River • Wind erosion • Grazing
associations • Fuel wood • Afforestation • Tragedy of the commons

1 Geographical Information

Lesotho is a mountainous country (Fig. 8.1 ) with a total surface area of 30,334 km 2
and is completely landlocked by the Republic of South Africa (Fig. 8.2 ). The coun-
try is situated at the highest part of the Drakensberg escarpment of the eastern rim of
the Southern African plateau, between 1,500 and 3,482 m above sea level; and be-
tween 28-31 ı southern latitude and 27-30 ı eastern longitude (Fig. 8.2 ). It is admin-
istratively divided into ten districts, which fall within the general classification of
four physiographic regions based on the elevation and climate. The lowlands range
from 1,500 to 1,800 m in elevation and make up about 20 % of the land area, a long
a narrow belt 20-50 km wide along the western border. Over 80 % of the productive
arable lands - and coincidentally the highest population densities are in this region.

Fig. 8.1 Mountains occupy a large part of Lesotho