Supported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) I conducted interviews with communities involved in FAO's Conservation Agriculture project http://www.lesothocsa.com/ to assess their resilience to extreme drought conditions. The interviews took place during January 2016 during an exceptionally dry summer, after most planted crops have failed. Farming communities in Lesotho are not very resilient to extreme droughts. But those that are resilient: Work together Are well-connected – share knowledge, learn Have good leadership Have rules, and a constitution Plan ahead Have many different livelihood strategies Are patient Are prepared to try new things – they help themselves.

1. Towards more resilient farming communi3es
in Lesotho
Prof. Christo Fabricius, Sustainability Research Unit, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

2. Social-ecological systems
• Coupled / linked
systems of people
and nature
• Influencing one
another in an
‘adapFve dance’
• Feedbacks within
and between scales
• The manager is
part of the system
Knowledge
InsFtuFons
Learning

3. Resilience
• The capacity of a system – e.g. a farming
system, a city, a community or an economy
– to deal with change and con3nue to
develop
• A resilient system withstands shocks and
disturbances (such as climate change or
financial crises)
• A resilient system uses such events to bring
about renewal and innova3on.

4. A resilient system
..‘bounces back’ when former condiFons were
desirable
..‘bounces forward’ when former condiFons
were unworkable
hQp://stockholmresilience.org/21/research/what-is-resilience.html

5. How resilient are these objects?

6. And how resilient are these?

7. Principle 1: Don’t put all your eggs
in one basket
• “Ho ba kgwaba la metha6 yohle”
• Systems with many different
components (e.g types of farming
outputs, income sources, sources
of knowledge) are generally more
resilient than systems with few
components.
• Redundancy is like ‘insurance’ in a
system - some components make
up for the loss or failure of others

8. Principle2: Build connec6ons
Good connecFons
promote the easy flow of
energy, water, resources,
in natural systems
In human systems, good
connecFons promote
trust, capital and transfer
of knowledge

9. Land degradaFon breaks
the connecFons
Social connectedness promotes
innovaFon
2. Build connec3ons

10. 2. Build connec3ons

11. Principle 3: Check, adapt & respond
• Feedbacks are ‘push’
and ‘pull’ forces that can
either reinforce
(posiFve feedback) or
dampen (negaFve
feedback) change

12. 3. Check, adapt and respond
to climate and weather change

13. 3. Check, adapt and respond
to economic indicators

14. Principle 4: Look at the en6re system

15. 4. Look at the en6re system

16. Principle 5: Encourage learning

17. Principle 6: Par6cipa6on

18. 6. Par3cipa3on

19. Principle 7: Joint decision making at
all levels

20. Principle 8: Be pa6ent. Try and try again
“Leboela ha le ngallwe” (You may succeed
where you once failed.)
“Leboela le a ja” (Perseverance pays.)

21. Keys to unlock resilience
• Resilient farming
communi3es in Lesotho:
1. Work together
2. Are well-connected –
share knowledge, learn
3. Have good leadership
4. Have rules, and a
consFtuFon
5. Plan ahead
6. Have many different
livelihood strategies
7. Are paFent
8. Are prepared to try new
things – help themselves
• Threats to the resilience
of farming communi3es:
1. ‘Free riders’
2. IsolaFon – being side-
lined – being
disrespected
3. Lack of leadership
4. No rules, haphazard
decision making
5. ReacFve, no plans
6. Few livelihood opFons
and survival strategies
7. Give up quickly
8. Reluctant to try new
things – aid &
government dependence

22. General discussion, comments

23. Resilience dialogues
I invite you to discuss a few crucial
ques3ons in groups of 4-5,
containing a mix of different organizaFons

24. What is it that we, the people in this
room, MUST make progress with …
if we want to promote more resilient
farming communiFes?
1. OUR CHALLENGE

25. What will life be like for them (the
farming communiFes) if we achieve
this?
2. OUR VISION
How will we know that we are
making progress? Indicators?

26. What have we tried before, that
has potenFal to explore further?
Are there new ways, that we
haven’t tried or thought about?
3. NEW POSSIBILITIES

27. 4. PRIORITIES
What can we DO, with the resources
and capaciFes available to us now?
What is the one thing that would
make a BIG DIFFERENCE here?

28. What is the NEXT THING
we will do?
Who should do it? With whose
help?
By when?