Climate change, complex interdependence and development: assessment of Lesotho-South Africa relations

Abstract

Climate change and its negative effects on the developing states are a reality of which there is a need to focus on likely mitigation and adaptive strategies to ensure sustainable development. Industrial development back to the 17th century and natural influence could be said to be responsible for the present environmental crisis the global system is contending with. Because of the need for the polluters not to pay for the damage caused by their economic development path, they contended that anthropogenic effects of climate change could not be substantiated. Small state is dangerous, more so when it is strategically located. Lesotho, a small state within South Africa (SA), but of more importance to the Pretoria government in the era of climate change as the state is a source of water supply for the industrial heart-beat of South Africa which implies that the effects of climate change in the state will have direct influence on the survival of the relatively industrially developed neighbor. As much as solutions to climate change is a global approach, there is a need for Lesotho to put in place domestic policies and parliamentary acts, expectedly in line with South Africa’s for sustainable development. Degree of vulnerability and sensitivity of the two states brings about this paper and its linkage to the concept of complex interdependence in the era of globalization.