Country

Lesotho: 2 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Grassland defines Lesotho at every elevation. The country's two ecoregions are the Highveld grasslands, a montane grassland system across the lower west, and the Drakensberg grasslands climbing the high country of the east, and both carry the Nature Imperiled tier. Trees are naturally scarce here; the native cover is grass, with shrubs and flowering perennials worked into it. High elevation gives the whole country a cool-temperate feel despite its latitude: summers bring the rain and growth, winters bring frost and, on the high Drakensberg, snow. Planting accordingly means frost-hardy species, summer-rainfall timing, and respect for wind and thin mountain soils. Because both grasslands are imperiled, keeping and restoring native grassland species, rather than replacing them with trees, is the ecologically literate choice.