Impacts of Dams on Downstream Riparian Ecosystems’ Health and Community Livelihoods: A Case of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project

2019 ◽  
pp. 257-276
Author(s):  
Patrick Gwimbi ◽  
Thabo E. Rakuoane
Keyword(s):  
Riparian Ecosystems ◽  
Water Project ◽  
Lesotho Highlands Water Project

scholarly journals Hydropolitics versus Human Security: Implications of South Africa's Appropriation of Lesotho's Highlands Water

Daedalus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-193
Author(s):  
Oscar Gakuo Mwangi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
International Security ◽  
Water Reservoir ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Interstate Conflict ◽  
Structural Relationship ◽  
Water Project ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
The World ◽  
Lesotho Highlands Water Project

Abstract The Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which exports water to South Africa, has enhanced the unequal structural relationship that exists between both states. Lesotho, one of the few countries in the world that exports water, has transformed from one of the largest sources of labor for South Africa to a water reservoir for South Africa. Though the project provides mutual strategic economic and political benefits to both riparian states, its construction has negatively affected environmental and human security in Lesotho. Due to hydropolitics, environmental threats in Lesotho caused by the project's construction are overlooked. These threats, which have devastating effects on resettled communities and the country's ecosystem, also constitute a threat to domestic and international security. The desire to prevent interstate conflict and maintain cooperation between the two riparian states further enhances the lopsided interstate relationship.

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