Obscured by the bribery and corruption headlines surrounding the construction of Africa's biggest civil engineering project - the Katse and Mohale dams in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project - is the almost forgotten story of the local Basotho people.

Earth Report travelled to a village in the Molikaliko region just months before the inhabitants were moved to resettlement villages higher up the mountains. 'Nature be Dammed' is an intimate portrayal of a people whose life is not just about to be turned upside down, but lost forever.

People and land

Although not an easy life, the Basotho people have adapted to the harsh reality of their environment. Traditional laws protect the land from which they are able to farm, gather firewood, building materials, medicine, water and graze their livestock.

Every year, initiation ceremonies teach successive generations how to live in this mountainous region and maintain Sesotho traditions. Knowledge passed down in this way has enabled the Basotho to continue to live in harmony with their surroundings.

Livestock farming - preserving the land

Erosion is a threat to the Basotho way of life. Overgrazing can cause soil to be washed away leaving bare rock or deep gullies. The Basotho know that if they don't protect the land their cattle may starve.

Every year the ward chief, in consultation with the village people and development committee, selects an area for conservation - where livestock is not permitted to graze. Together, villagers decide which cattleposts the herdboys can take their animals to. Using this intimate knowledge of their homeland and highly organized system of conservation, the soil is preserved and grazing areas protected.

Medicine - community health

Traditional healers call the mountains their hospital. From the earth they harvest plants which are used to heal the sick. Knowledge of indigenous plants and herbs and their medicinal uses is critical for community health. At ha Makotoko, where the villagers will be resettled, they will no longer be able to gather these plants. They will have to buy them.

Progress - but for whom?

Just months after this film was made, the people from this area were relocated to resettlement villages higher up in the mountains or to the outskirts of Lesotho's captial. With few rights, these communities not only lost their homelands but also the traditions that made up the very fabric of their culture. Few are now working.

Ironically, South Africa may not even need the water from these huge dams. If water conservation measures had been implemented by the South African Rand Water Company, further dam building could have been delayed for another generation...and the villages saved.