Concern over falling lake level

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Concern over falling lake level

By NATION Correspondent

Posted Wednesday, May 27 2009 at 19:55

East African Community ministers have expressed concern at the declining water levels of Lake Victoria.

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The EAC’s council of ministers called for urgent measures to address environmental degradation in the lake basin, warning of dire consequences if this was not addressed.
Mr Vincent Karega, the Rwandan minister for Natural Resources, said conflicts would increase in the region if the trend was not reversed.

The trend

He called for a review of the conservation strategies of the basin, adding that many rivers feeding the lake are threatened.
“We will end up losing the lake’s economic benefits and our capacity to combat and adapt to climate change,” Mr Karega said.
The Tanzanian minister for Water and Irrigation, Prof Mark Mwandosya, said addressing the declining water levels needed to be prioritised.
Ms Jennifer Namunyangu Byakatonda, the head of the Ugandan delegation, said her country had enforced the EAC policy on water release and abstraction to curb the receding water levels.

Effect on lake

Kenya’s Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa said the destruction of forests in the country was having a devastating effect on the lake.

However, he added that the government was committed to reversing the trend.

Burundi minister for Environment Deo Ndikumana said there was a need for equal rights for populations upstream and downstream in the Lake Victoria basin.

The ministers have gathered in Kisumu for the sixth ordinary meeting of the sectoral EAC council of ministers on the Lake Victoria basin.

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