Environmental degradation in Lesotho manifests in two ways –soil erosion and pollution of land and water sources. Soil erosion is accelerated by poor land use and management practices while pollution is mainly attributed to the excessive use of plastic and lack of an integrated solid waste management system within the country. All these prevail amidst erratic rainfall patterns due to climate change, disease burden which is mainly attributed to the high HIV prevalence rates among the economically active age groups and high rates of unemployment.

The combined net effect of these factors is that Lesotho has been reduced to a country unable to produce adequate food for its population and with high poverty levels. It is against this background that Caritas Lesotho’ s programming is centered around livelihood improvement and reducing environmental degradation within the country.