Lake Victoria is a trans-boundary natural resource, underpinning the economies and livelihoods of the population within the wider catchment area of Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. The most significant part of the Lake, 51%, is in Tanzania, occupying 35,088 Km. Uganda has 43% of the Lake, while Kenya has 6%.

The lake acts as a source of fresh water, fishing, a waste repository and provides food, energy, water for irrigation, industry, drinking, tourism within and cross border transportation.

However, the lake and its surrounding areas have faced many challenges including rising lake water levels, moving islands, encroachment, ecological and biodiversity degradation which is evident in the probable extinction of several fish species.

The violation of the buffer zone policy of 200 meters away from the lake by investors, industries, farmers and settlers, increasing pollutants in form of polythene bags, plastics and untreated wastes and poor fishing methods have changed the lake ecosystem.

East African governments are signatories to the regional and international treaties targeted at conserving, protecting and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources within the lake basin. Whereas the international treaties have been domesticated in national legislation and, institutions and agencies have been established with mandates to safeguard the fragile ecosystems, unstainable use and management of the lake basin persists. This is partly attributed to political interferences, ineffective monitoring and poor implementation of the existing laws on the management and utilization of the lake.

Because of unstainable management of the lake, countries have witnessed unprecedented consequences such as floods and mudslides, extreme and unpredictable weather changes including where dams could not generate electricity due to very low water level and many other livelihood, social and economic impacts including loss of lives.

East African EfD centers meet in Uganda to discuss LVB issues

On 7^th June 2023, Environment for Development Initiative (EfD) Makerere University Uganda organized a one-day high level policy dialogue on changes of Lake Victoria’s hydrology, water quality and livelihoods that was hosted by Uganda’s environment watchdog – the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) at its head office in Kampala, Uganda.

The dialogue was attended by the three East African EfD Centres led by the Directors; Prof. Richard Mulwa (EfD-Kenya), Dr. Onesmo Selejio (EfD Tanzania) and Prof. Edward Bbaale, for EfD-Uganda. Each country was represented by the delegates from different agencies. Among others, delegates from Kenya included Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) of Kenya, Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) of Kenya and academia from the University of Nairobi. In Tanzania delegates spanned from Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Lake Victoria Basin, Mwanza, and other Academicians from Adhi University and University of Dar es Salaam. In Uganda, Delegates came from different agencies including Ministry of Finance, planning and Economic Development (MoFPED), National Planning Authority (NPA), Ministry of Water and Environment (MoWE), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Environmental Police Protection Unit (EPPU), and academicians from Makerere University.

The Executive Director NEMA and host of the dialogue Dr. Akankwasah Birerega also graced the meeting.

Each country presented an in-depth analysis of the issues around LVB pertinent to its areas of jurisdictions, and later went into plenary discussion where short, mid and long-term interventions were proposed

Giving the background to the meeting, the Director EfD-Mak center Prof. Edward Bbaale said the need for this meeting arose from the impacts Uganda felt in 2020 when the country experienced heavy rainfall that made the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) unable to hold the water and caused a lot of havoc and predicaments on livelihoods.

During the period of late January 2020, fears of Lake Victoria bursting its banks started to be felt which later was followed by damaging of several landing sites and settlements as a result of floods. This led to disasters that left almost half a million people homeless and property worth billions of money had been lost in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

In April 2020, heavy floods with the moving vegetation chocked the hydroelectric power generation turbines at Jinja on Lake Victoria leading to a total blackout of the entire nation during a presidential address to the nation.

As a center, Bbaale said, the EfD-Mak conducted an investigation on the cause and what Government of Uganda can do to circumvent some of the issues through conducting national wide policy tours and came up with a policy paper.

Bbaale attributed the 2020 floods to Climate change, Lake Sedimentation due to catchment degradation and Buffer zone encroachment and lack of Regional Consensus on a well-coordinated Policy of regulating Lake Victoria inflow and outflow

The Director however said it was noted that L. Victoria is a trans-boundary natural resource benefiting East African countries and a source of River Nile holding livelihoods in Egypt and Sudan and thus, what Uganda does was bound to affect other countries, hence the need for the East African EfD centers to converge and debate what they can do together in terms policy frameworks and to tap from one another’s best practices.

“The current problems may threaten Lake Victoria basin for centuries if not well addressed at present. For example, all the major lakeside cities in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania could lose access to Lake Victoria in as little as 100 years.

We thought that we could leverage on each other’s information and knowledge on what we have collected concerning lake Victoria basin, come together, understand the issues from each country and how we can come up with one voice in the East African parliament and individual policy making bodies in our countries”, Said Bbaale

 Bbaale reported that Environmental valuation in Uganda has huge capacity gaps.  And more than often, environmentalists have vaguely responded to the president to weigh an industry over maintaining a wetland and many politicians have failed on the floor of parliament.

In addition to a deepened trans boundary cooperation on the management of the lake, tackling point and non-point source pollution, Bbaale called for the development of a coherent plan for conservation and rehabilitation of the fish fauna in Lake Victoria, strengthening capacity and human resources in environmental valuation as well as involvement of the general public in the management of the lake and observance of the buffer zone size of 200m away from the lake. 

See the detailed EfD Mak presentation at the bottom of the page.

A cross-cutting enforcement body and an integrated Lake Victoria Basin Management policy for East Africa  needed while producers must be responsible for their waste – Prof. Mulwa Kenya EfD Centre

The Director EfD-Kenya Prof Richard Mulwa decried the continued unsustainable utilization of natural resources despite many meetings targeting LVB. He said, the target for policy making on the lake basin and its ecosystem has been a moving target and would require a dynamic, adaptive, and collaborative approaches in balancing utilization and conservation.

Prof. Mulwa expressed the need for continued reviews and dialogues that incorporate the changing dynamics for example the changing climate.

At national level, Prof. Mulwa reported that Kenya has adopted integrated organic agriculture to reduce use of agrochemicals, promotes sustainable land use practices such as agro-forestry, crop rotation, conservation agriculture, and strives to eliminate the destructive fishing gears and enforcement of the allowable catch.

Other national interventions according to Prof. Mulwa are  enhancement of  waste management technologies and incorporation of  the oil spills management plan and adoption of cleaner production technologies in industrial sector and mining sector,  elimination of  the use of cyanide and use the GDA (Gold Dressing Agent), Regulation of the aquaculture and develop MSP for suitability mapping , Promotion  of conservation activities, integrating  environmental considerations in  County Integrated Development Plans including  advocating and  lobbying  to expedite the enactment of many of the regulations that may govern activities in Lake Victoria that are still drafts.

Regionally, the Kenyan EfD Centre called for the Development of an integrated Lake Victoria Basin Management Policy/Regulation, formulation ofa regional monitoring commission under the East African CommunityandEnactment of draft regulations by the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC).

In addition to establishing an enforcing body that cuts across the five countries that share the resource, Prof Mulwa suggested that producers must be responsible for the waste they generate.

“Engage organizations on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) so each is responsible for waste collection and management around the basin and be able to care for the plastic bottles and how they are disposed’ He said.

See the detailed EfD Kenya presentation at the bottom of the page.

Declining water levels, water pollution and illegal fishing persistent challenges in Tanzania

Representing the Director EfD Tanzania, Dr. Rosemary Taylor said despite the immense contribution of the lake to many livelihoods, there is declining water levels due to evapotranspiration, given the Lake’s shallowness, poor land use practices, agricultural and industrial development, and water withdrawal for consumption.

The other threat and defining features of the lake’s water according to Dr. Taylor is eutrophication, poor water visibility, dramatic changes in nutrients, and hypoxia, resulting to a massive loss of biodiversity. 

The deteriorating water quality was attributed   the discharge of untreated municipal waste, industrial effluents, urban surface contaminated runoff, organic and inorganic waste for intensive agricultural activities, and municipality sewage.

To promote the sustainable use of the basin, Dr. Taylor submitted that Government of Tanzania signed various protocols and treaties with other partner countries, participates in regional organizations such as LVFO, formulated national legal and regulatory framework and established national agencies to facilitate the sustainability of the Basin. GoT also collaborates with development partners in promoting sustainable use of the Basin, fosters Local community awareness creation and engagements, and

Increased women’s participation in managing the basin’s resources.

Dr. Taylor however said, despite  being signatory to regional and international protocols , illegal fishing  leading to reduced fish stocks and water pollution leading to loss of biodiversity are the persistent challenges

Key findings from the national policy dialogue attributed the persistent challenges to unharmonized policies e.g., Diverse policies and strategies about various sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries, water, and tourism, may have conflicting objectives.

Other factors are the Inadequate implementation and loopholes of the existing legal and regulatory frameworks, Lack of a common objective and vision among the key players, Growing poverty among the locals and limited alternative sources of living among local people and the open access nature of the fishing activities.

“Harmonizing regional and national Policies, Laws, and Regulations can help establish consistent frameworks for sustainable management.

We also need to think about enhancing economic empowerment of local communities and stakeholder engagement (academia, private sector, etc.) and involving local communities in decision-making can enhance awareness creation and a sense of ownership of the basin’s resources”, Dr. Taylor submitted

See the detailed EfD Tanzania presentation at the bottom of the page.

Expand the horizon of your economics and put the economic value on every resource, ED NEMA to EfD Centers

The Executive Director NEMA Dr. Akankwasah Birerega underscored the role of the EfD initiative as the way to go on reason that quiet often the obstacles of the environment come from development and thus one cannot separate  environment from  development and vice versa.

“Environment for development is a very important initiative for pushing sustainable policies advocacy and making a case for conservation using the economic lens because most of the decision makers understand the economic lens faster than the ecological lens.

When you translate ecological lens to the economic lens, it is the same message but it will move faster.

If you say this forest is very important for rainfall formation and air we breathe, everybody will take it for granted as the usual talk of environmentalists. But if you give them what cost they will incur when the forest goes away, the message will sin faster.

When you tell people that air pollution will increase public expenditure on health management, the message moves faster than saying the air is bad. So we need economics to communicate environment because the most policy architects and policies in Africa are based on economics”, Dr. Birerega explained

He urged the EfD centers to to use the niche, ability and establishment they have to lead the shift to enhancing the broadness  with which economics is looked with by expanding the horizon of economics to begin putting the economic value on every resource in environment be it water, air, pollution etc.

“Economics for development is a very significant vehicle for us to transform the way we look at things and therefore as NEMA we pledge our total commitment to working with you in delivering the objectives of economics for environment sustainability and development because there are no alternatives to that.

You cannot preach the gospel of ecology alone and succeed because development must happen. We should not look at development as brick and mortar and concrete but in a holistic manner”, NEMAs ED asserted.

Dr. Birerega expressed willingness to participate in the development and popularization of the policy paper arising from this dialogue noting that nationally and globally there is now a fair understanding of the value of environment due climate change, biodiversity loss and increasing levels of pollution.

“It is clear that you cannot ignore environment issues and continue talking about development. We ignored environment, it went silent and started fighting for itself and when it starts fighting, it always wins and so our politicians now have a fair view of the importance of the environment at national and global level”, He added.

He expressed hope that they no longer go through a lot of hustle to convince people for environment resources, the reason why there is a Climate Financing Unit in Ministry Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Short, midterm and long term propositions during the plenary discussions

• The need for further scientific studies into the issues affecting LVB.
• Have a database where information concerning the LVB can be maintained and looked at what happens 10 years ago to inform policy.
• Involvement of local communities in the management and protection of natural sciences as the users.
• Enhance capacity building in water science to monitor how the seas and lakes behave.
• Using science to inform policy frameworks and devise means to invoke governments to use science informed policies.
• Public participation in environmental related dialogues and utilization of local knowledge to protect the LVB and move away from academic ranks.
• Harmonization of policies on alternative livelihood alternatives to reduce dependence on nature eg price of electricity and Gas to reduce use of wood fuel.
• All policies must have the policy action in order to achieve the objectives.
• Governments should incentivize local communities to protect lake shores and curb illegal fishing.
• Emphasize ENR valuation and enforcement.
• Environmentalists should make arguments based on science to address environmental problems eg if sedimentation continues, for the next so years the lake will dry up, given the magnitude of pollution.
• Governments should adopt participatory approach to start from local communities to the ministries. 
• Extend the mandate of the LVB to all East African water bodies including Burundi and Rwanda for better implementation.
• Revisit national   policies on offering certificates for residential, hoteliers and industries in fragile ecosystems to avoid double standards.
• Address the issue of sedimentation to national leaders and point out that in countries like Chad, a lake disappeared.
• Make a case for Uganda’s Presidential directive banning charcoal use that it shows good political will. However, there is need to provide alternative survival mechanism for communities to succeed e.g. how affordable is LPG gas and electricity.
• Countries should form technical committees to visit other countries to learn the best practices.

• Discussion on LVB should be promoted around the East African level under the Natural Resources Commission to gain political will.
• Investing institutional capacity building to provide ENR Valuation.
• Gazeting wetlands and enhancing public awareness for enforcement to be successful.
• Think of mechanisms to win political will to fight selective enforcement of the law.
• Government should address the issue of sewerage systems and waste management near water sources and adopt sanitary dumping sites.
• Strengthening existing partnerships within the country and across boarders and borrow best practices from neighbors, and bring resources together.
• Need to devote efforts in financing chapter and resource mobilization beyond governments and donors for long term financing for LVB policy implementation and capacity building.
• Establish village committees to participate in project evaluation and check on performance indicators.
• Evoke the education system in the region to build real patriotism from primary on importance of natural resources and the need to preserve it for the next generation. Borrow from Germany the sense of ownership of natural resources. Most education level of the population fishing in East Africa is more concerned with making super normal profit not the health and future of the stocks.
• Institutional strengthening to enhance implementation of regional instruments to manage natural resources   and Biodiversity.

It was agreed that a writing team is constituted to synthesize the research findings from the three countries and come up with a single document written in simple language that policy makers can easily appreciate.

Later on, members would convene virtually in a webinar and further synthesize that paper for use as a policy brief or advocacy tool for sharing with government entities.

Given the opportunity, the policy paper will be presented to committees of parliament and other stakeholders. At the same time, EfD Tanzania, residing in a country hosting the East African Parliament in Arusha, will seek an opportunity to articulate the issues in the East African Parliament to promote awareness on LVB, converse political support and inform policy making.

Jane Anyango is the Communication Officer, EfD-Mak Centre Uganda.