Water security and climate in Lesotho

As part of their 2021 UCL-Wits University Strategic Partnership project, Exploring the use of stable isotopes to link water security in Lesotho to regional climate patterns, Professors Anson Mackay, Jonathan Holmes (UCL Geography) and Jennifer Fitchett (Wits University), hosted two free educational webinars in May 2021 for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students:

• Rainfall Seasonality Synoptic Climatology Webinar of southern Africa (17-19 May)
• Stable Isotope Workshop, with a special focus on southern Africa (24-26 May)

65 students registered during the course of both events, with participants joining not only from the UK and South Africa but also Kenya, Botswana, Reunion Island and Japan.

The next stage in the collaboration is to map out contemporary isotope data for southern Africa before rescheduled fieldwork in Lesotho, planned for later in 2021 or early 2022 (Covid-19 depending).

The main purposes of the fieldwork will be two-fold:

• Reconnaissance sampling of precipitation and groundwater in Lesotho for stable isotopes.
• Setting up a precipitation monitoring network at strategic locations across the country to improve the resolution of isotope analysis.