Similar to its peers in Southern Africa, Botswana has a plethora of climate policies, strategies and action plans. Alongside its National Policy on Disaster Management (1996), National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (2013) and National Devel opment Plan II (2017), its primary climate action policy is the National Climate Change Response Policy (2016) which outlines the country’s mitigation, adapta tion and resilience agenda. It does so through linking national development imple mentation with enhancing the country’s resilience capacity to respond to existing and future climate impacts (Makwatse et al. 2022). This can be achieved, argues the policy, through having national development actions that are informed by realiza tion that the climate crisis is exacerbating poverty levels (Government of Botswana 2016). Therefore, to address this dual challenge of poverty and climate change, human development programming must seek to create opportunities for the poor to transition out of poverty as a path towards achieving socioeconomic justice and equity. Further, its vision of an economy that is environmentally sustainable and follows a low-carbon development pathway in pursuit of prosperity for all signals its intent of holistically factoring environmental, social and economic considera tions as it seeks to build resilience. This policy agenda is complemented by the country’s National Climate Change Strategy (2018) which operationalizes tenets of "the policy and provides necessary guidance on how the policy objectives will be achieved" (Government of Botswana 2018:1). In that regard, the government has enacted sectoral structures that are already implementing specifc climate mitiga tion and adaptation actions such as government technical and fnancial support for solar technologies in the renewable energy sector. This demonstrates initial steps towards fulflling the country’s Paris Agreement mitigation commitment to sig nifcantly decrease GHG emissions through phased switching to renewable energy sources (Government of Botswana 2022). Relatedly, climate change information and knowledge dissemination is one of the fagship programmes of the country. This is done through a participatory process, in line with procedural justice, that involves government entities, local communities, civil society and the private sec tor. Alongside these government programmes, international development partners have also partnered with local communities to implement various climate action projects. These include the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia, Resilience in the Limpopo River Basin and the Southern Africa Regional Environmental Programme funded by the United States Agency for International Development, Adaptation at Scale in the Semi-Arid Regions funded by the Depart ment for International Development of the United Kingdom and the International Development Research Centre of Canada, etc. These climate actions, and many others, are evidence of initial steps that the state, non-state actors and local com munities are implementing as they attempt to pursue climate-resilient develop ment. However, as we demonstrate below, these are few and far between to create sustainable resilience.
Firstly, failure of the national climate policy and associated strategies to prob lematize and mainstream climate justice into policy and programming processes means one has to infer or deduce it from these climate smart programming blue prints. Their reference to public participation "to ensure that adaptation and mitiga tion decisions and response measures are in the best interest of the general public" (Government of Botswana 2018:10) thus becomes the basis for inferring the climate justice vision. This climate justice lacuna is striking and exposes an oversight of the policy and strategic programming direction. Secondly, the country’s government led climate actions do not adequately address deep-rooted issues of inequity and inequality without which climate justice is not attainable. It is well documented that Botswana is one of the most unequal countries in the region (Baleyte et al. 2021; Gordon 2019; World Bank 2020). Inequality in the country has gender, age, ethnic and rural–urban dimensions. Given the truism that low-income, poor and marginalized communities are most vulnerable to climate impacts, their climate justice should therefore be frmly linked to equality, equity and socioeconomic justice. To achieve their climate justice, it is crucial for Botswana to boldly address these underlying social injustices manifested through various forms of inequality and inequity. Without these socioeconomic changes, climate justice will remain a ‘pipe-dream’ because its realization partly relies on the achievement of social justice. Thirdly, while the country aspires towards a green economy, introduction of carbon budgets and carbon taxes as part of its decarbonization agenda, it does not yet have a just transition framework to seamlessly guide this transformational change. It therefore remains murky, perhaps uncertain, how the country can realistically undergo a just transition that involves "facilitating equitable access to the benefts and sharing of the costs of sustainable development such that livelihoods of all people, including the most vulnerable, are supported and enhanced…" (African Development Bank 2021:1) in the absence of a framework and consensus between local communities, civil society, public and private sector.
The policy space and alignment is slightly different in neighbouring Eswatini. The country has several laws, policies and strategies that respond to climate change in advancement of the call for climate justice and sustainable transition. For example, its National Development Strategy (2016), National Development Plan (2019) and the Strategy for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth 2030 are some of the macro policy and strategic documents that integrate sustainable development, environmental and climate action. Its Swaziland National Climate Change Policy (2016) provides an enabling policy framework that guides the development of a sustainable and climate-resilient society by encouraging communities, private sector and government to follow low-carbon green growth paths (Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs 2016). It further raises awareness on the opportunities presented by climate change for investors and local communities to leverage on as they build climate-resilient communities and engage in poverty reduction initiatives (Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs 2016). In further mainstreaming climate action in the national development agenda, climate programming features in sectoral strategies and action plans. This is the case in the National Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, Disaster Risk Reduction National Action Plan and the National Disaster Management Policy, among others (Government of Eswatini 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Further, the National Drought Plan (2020), for instance, responds to the devastating impacts of recurring drought conditions (Government of Eswatini 2021). It recognizes that climate change has intensifed drought conditions necessitating the need for capacity build ing in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation in order to strengthen the resilience of the agricultural sector. Similarly, the country’s Resilience Strategy and Action Plan provides the policy scope for upscaling the country’s adaptive initiatives in order to enhance its resilience against all forms of climate hazards, shocks and damages (Government of Eswatini 2021). This plethora of policies, strategies and plans means that, on paper, Eswatini has created an enabling policy environment for climate actions towards climate justice. This is a demonstration of its endeavour to promote effective implementation of climate change adaptation and resilience in a fair and equitable manner to counter prevailing climate impacts.
However, these progressive Eswatini climate policy papers have not been complemented by effective and sustainable practical climate action. This is because the country faces several institutional and capacity constraints which deter full implementation of climate initiatives. For example, the public–private partnership between the United States Agency for International Development, National Department of Energy and the Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority has not succeeded in setting the country on a clean, renewable energy pathway. The partnership’s goal of transitioning the economy to clean energy in order to minimize GHG emissions and the national carbon footprint has not only failed because of lethargy in policy implementation but also because of inadequate climate fnance to fund the transition. This inability to raise adequate climate fnance from regional, continental and international sources is due to lack of requisite capacity and expertise in developing competitive and fundable proposals. Consequently, vulnerable societal groups such as the unemployed, workers, the poor, elderly and women continue to suffer from energy poverty in an environment of high GHG emissions. Secondly, while the government has made fnancial and technical investments in the agriculture sector through the National Agriculture Investment Plan and the continental agricultural framework – the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme – these have not reduced poverty nor enhanced food and nutrition in security. This suggests that the country’s climate smart agriculture interventions, such as the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project that aimed to enhance mitigation, improve household food security, in addition to the reduction of land degradation and biodiversity loss, have largely failed.
Similar conditions and evidence of climate inaction were obtained in Lesotho. This is despite the country’s 1993 Constitution clearly laying the legal foundation for the protection of the environment, ecosystems and biodiversity as well as cultural resources for present and future generations (Machepha 2010). This constitutional position fnds expression in, among other laws, the National Environment Act of 2008 which, despite its preoccupation with traditional environmental conservation, contains elements of climate thinking. Just like in Eswatini and Botswana, at policy and strategic levels, Lesotho has a gamut of climate action position papers. These include the National Environmental Policy (1998) that focuses less on mitigation and adaptation and more on sustainable development which was in vogue at the time of its promulgation post the seminal United Nations’ ‘Our Common Future’ report (aka Brundtland Report). Other policies with very limited climate action insights, but more emphasis on environmental management, water, for estry, biodiversity, land degradation and desertifcation, include the Livestock and Range Management Policy (1994), Water Resources Management Policy (1996), National Forestry Policy (1997), National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2000), Water and Sanitation Policy (2007), National Rangeland Management Policy (2014) and the Energy Policy (2015). The glaring climate action gaps in these foregoing policies are, however, addressed through the National Climate Policy (2017) which advocates the promotion of climate-resilient social, economic and environmental development that is compatible with and mainstreamed into traditional national development plans and budgetary processes (Lesotho Meteorological Services 2017). Second, this policy provides for a just transition through pursuing low-carbon development opportunities, clean technology development, transfer and use, sustainable use of environmental resources, strengthening of climate governance and fnancing mechanisms in a way that benefts the most vulner able social groups (Lesotho Meteorological Services 2017) across Lesotho.
For implementation purposes, the country’s climate policy is operationalized through the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA). This NAPA is a product of a nationwide stakeholder consultation process (i.e., procedural justice), and according to Scholsberg (2004), such consultations and engagement are elements of social justice. Through its 11 adaptation activities, the NAPA deliberately seeks to empower "vulnerable communities to adopt adaptation capacities" (United Nations Climate Technology Centre and Network 2023:1). However, the direct impact of NAPA activities on adaptation and resilience of the vulnerable and marginalized remains inconsequential. This is confrmed by the government of Lesotho which acknowledges that some of its policies and programmes of action are fair, equitable and just in theory only given that the adaptive capacities of many poor communities remain precarious (Lesotho Meteorological Services 2017). This is hardly surprising because even though the national climate policy and NAPA identify agriculture, energy, water, forestry, infrastructure and human health as sectors that are adversely affected by climate impacts, there are no streamlined and funded programmes being implemented consistently to address these Anthropocene challenges. The limited and sometimes lack of budget for this programming thus adds to the ever-deepening challenges across all sectors. The corollary is that poor and vulnerable children, women, the disabled, youth and other social groups continue to suffer the consequences of the climate crisis with very limited opportunity of realizing social and climate justice.