Mountain Watershed in Lesotho: Water Quality, Anthropogenic Impacts and Challenges

Abstract

The Kingdom of Lesotho is divided into four agro-ecological zones (AEZ):the Lowland, Senqu River valley, Foot-Hills and Mountains (Table 1).Approximately two thirds of the country is formed by rangelands and permanent pastures. Most soils show low levels of organic carbon, available phosphorus, and pH (≤3.5). The highest population pressure is in the lowland AEZ (Table 1), where the arable land is facing mainly problems of soil erosion and land degradation. Multi-resource management of Lesotho mountain wetlands claims the support of livestock-pastures, production of several important medicinal plants, and the source of water flow in the Senqu/Orange River. However, in wetlands of Lesotho, degradation processes are also evident, particularly following the extend overgrazing.