{"id":22451,"date":"2022-12-07T07:52:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T07:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-dream-to-save-earth"},"modified":"2022-12-07T07:52:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T07:52:48","slug":"the-dream-to-save-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-dream-to-save-earth","title":{"rendered":"The dream to save Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>AS the impact of climate change becomes more pronounced, tree planting has been touted as a \u201cnatural climate solution\u201d to capture and store planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, while also conserving biodiversity and improving the quality of life for people.<\/p>\n

Triggered by the alarming rate of youth unemployment, which currently stands at 32.8 percent, Mpho Lebesa, a 27-year-old from Ha-Abia has founded a youth-empowered environmental organisation called Plant One Tree (POT).<\/p>\n

She founded the organisation after completing her studies at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). POT came as a plea or movement \u2014 Plant One Tree, Save One Planet!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission is to rehabilitate and conserve the environment, restore the luscious greenery Lesotho once possessed by planting one tree at a go and saving our precious home, Earth, while producing food.<\/p>\n

Essentially we will be creating jobs for Basotho youth,\u201d said Lebesa. She said POT\u2019s objectives are to plant forests, fruits and indigenous trees. Since it is youth-empowered, it operates in high schools and communities and has successfully planted over 400 trees to date in school orchards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe everyone, regardless of their status, has the responsibility to nurture the world we live in for future generations.<\/p>\n

I believe human beings have to live harmoniously in this democratic global community because all lives are precious,\u201d said Lebesa. She said POT came as a response to the high rate of depletion of the ozone layer and the general ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered that common solution to the many socio-economic problems Lesotho is facing could be mitigated by planting a variety of trees.
\nThe Development Studies and Political Science and Administrative Studies graduate said she was a subscribed member of a vibrant Public Administration and Political Science Association (PAPSA) club during her studies at NUL.<\/p>\n

Members of the club were involved in gathering information from formal literature and current affairs and held debates and discussions on sensational and burning topics on local and international politics of climate change. The club, she said, was highly regarded by the faculty.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy passion for sustainable and human development grew strong as I had a deep understanding of natural resource management, human resource development, management of public funds, public policy processes as well as international political economy courses offered at NUL.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowledge and observations of the status of Lesotho in terms of managing natural resources and the unhealthy environment made it significantly critical that I established an organisation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lebesa attended online courses during the Covid-19 lockdown. She also studied subjects such as Achieving Sustainable Development from Trinity College Dublin, Making Climate Adaptation Happen from the University of Groningen, Human Rights-Based<\/p>\n

Approach to Education from the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations and Capacity Building for Women-led Enterprises by United Nations Development Program (UNDP).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have reached so many milestones despite the challenges we have faced since the establishment of POT in 2016,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Among the challenges was the lack of funding, Covid-19 movement restrictions, teachers\u2019 strikes and political instability. She said the climate of Lesotho is characterised by the occurrence of extreme dry spells and wet spells.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese climatic fluctuations have had a serious impact on the environment.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018The impacts associated with dry spells include food shortages, famine, disease epidemics, invasion by exotic plants and destructive insects, dust bowls and the initiation of down cutting by rivers,\u201d said Lebesa.<\/p>\n

She said Lesotho is expected to experience a change in temperature and precipitation patterns, toward dryer and hotter conditions. In addition, the intensity and frequency of extreme events such as floods and drought are expected to increase, especially in the western and northern lowlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impacts of climate change in Lesotho will vary from sector to sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater resources will be affected negatively by the reduction of precipitation and increase in temperature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will result in an increase in evaporation loss and a decrease in runoff and groundwater recharge.
\nAdded Lebesa: \u201cRangeland conditions may deteriorate \u2014 and ultimately be destroyed \u2014 by changes in climate, leading to a change in the quality of livestock and livestock products.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe present indigenous forests may change into semi-arid types while agricultural production will decline, resulting in food shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201d She said the ultimate solution to all of the afore-mentioned challenges has always been tree-planting.<\/p>\n

Her organisation hopes to establish 100 000 POT clubs and farms with five various fruit orchards in both schools and communities by the year 2050. These clubs will have seed libraries that will offer seeds, seedlings, and technical support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese farms will be commercialised and will sell processed fruit jams, juice, dried and many other tree products.<\/p>\n

\u201d However, she said potential challenges include financial constraints and lack of political will to support such youth oriented initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe therefore invite every individual, organisation and development partner to partake in this journey of the Lesotho we want.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have successfully worked with local as well as international stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201d She said they hope to plant more than one million trees before 2050.<\/p>\n

She talked of a plan to plant trees in collaboration with the Ts\u030cepo Christian High School POT club to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis school has been in the headlines due to its students\u2019 leaked sex tape, so as POT, we thought we could give them something positive to divert their focus and energy to tree planting,\u201d said Lebesa.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy siblings and I always believed that we were a team made of different individuals, gifts, talents, dreams, and interests and gracefully blended with love.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were raised to love, respect, protect and support one another and to love our home, country, continent and the whole world,\u201d said Lebesa, adding that she grew up in a family of six children and \u201csupportive\u201d parents.<\/p>\n

She said the value of education and humanity \u201cwere strongly instilled in me\u201d from a young age. \u201cI learnt to look at myself as a contributor of change in all those lenses of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were taught to believe that there was something greater than us that lives in us, God.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, I have always searched for opportunities to embrace and uphold those values in every organisation I have interacted with.
\nAs a founding director of POT, she said she made fruitful relations with other youth leaders she met when POT joined the regional mother-body of youth-led organisations called Southern African<\/p>\n

Alliance on Youth Employment (SAAYE) in 2018. Later that year, she was selected to represent the youths in the preparation of the National Youth Conference on Reforms.<\/p>\n

She then became a Youth Delegate in all multi-stakeholders forums and in-district consultations as an observer from civil society organisations in structural national reforms looking more into media, economic, security, judicial and constitutional, political and parliamentary arrangements thematic areas.<\/p>\n

In her quest for self-development as a youth leader, she is a learner and a volunteer at the Development for Peace Education (DPE). Lebesa has worked as a liaison between the 24 high schools, institutions of higher learning, the National Manpower Development Secretariat management (NMDS) and the Minister of Education in times of disputes.<\/p>\n

The model also incorporates a programme called Food Sovereignty, which is a collaboration with POT to promote food and orchards production. After her completion of Civic Leadership from the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), she said POT was \u201cprivileged\u201d to be one of the Lesotho Delegates at the 4th YouthConnekt Africa Summit in Rwanda, 2019.<\/p>\n

She said planting trees is cheap \u201cat least compared to high tech sucking carbon technology whose efficiency isn\u2019t proven yet\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s available and it\u2019s something citizens can easily get involved in.<\/p>\n

By betting on planting trees while adapting the existing monoculture plantation, forests can become more inclusive and ecological. \u201cThis will help enrich wildlife and biodiversity while reducing water pollution, soil degradation, and plagues,\u201d said Lebesa. She called on the youth \u201cto change our environment, protect our biodiversity and nurture the beauty of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. AS the impact of climate change becomes more pronounced, tree planting has been touted as a \u201cnatural climate solution\u201d to capture and store planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, while also conserving biodiversity and improving the quality of life for people. Triggered by the alarming rate of youth unemployment, which currently stands at 32.8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233,246,1663,245],"class_list":["post-22451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-earth","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nThe dream to save Earth - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-dream-to-save-earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The dream to save Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Lesotho. AS the impact of climate change becomes more pronounced, tree planting has been touted as a \u201cnatural climate solution\u201d to capture and store planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, while also conserving biodiversity and improving the quality of life for people. 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