Lake Victoria Basin Ecosystem Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Project

Abstract

This report is an account of work accomplished towards the planned nomination of Lake Victoria also known as Nalubaale or Victoria Nyanza to UNESCO for designation as a Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (TBR). This lake which is Africa’s largest lake, the world’s largest tropical lake and also the world’s second largest freshwater lake in terms of its surface area has a unifying basin ecosystem stretching across the five East African Community Countries. The planned nomination when successfully designated will make Lake Victoria the first penta-state TBR in the world. This project implemented under the 2020/2021 biennium aimed to achieve detailed topographic mapping and zonation of Lake Victoria Basin Ecosystem (LVBE) as a trans-boundary biosphere reserve. The LVB falls under the institutional umbrella of the East African Community (“EAC”), a regional intergovernmental organization comprising Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The Lake Victoria Baisn Commission (LVBC) under the East African Community holds the key position for policy making for the management of the LVB resources. The LVB is a Transboundary entity and needs a framework, which transcends national boundaries, for joint management as a shared resource. This undertaking is under UNESCO’s Major Programme II, Strategic objective 5, focusing on promoting (international) scientific cooperation on critical challenges to sustainable development. The National Scientific Committees of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP), the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) and the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) were involved in the project. The project targets addressing the key threats affecting the lake like declining water levels and degradation of the surrounding wetlands, which have both ecological and hydrological functions, intensively cultivated and overgrazed, the degradation and inability to perform their ecological and hydrological function such as trapping of sediments and biodiversity conservation. The consultants of the baseline survey in their report recommend that sixteen (16) zones of the ecosystem be demarcated for designation with detailed zonation as per the requirements of biosphere reserves. The recommended zones cover the five riparian countries and they have the following common attributes: they are representative of typical key areas of the lake in the riparian countries, carry many of the endemic fish species, face heavy intensive fishing pressure, some have a few representatives of endangered fish species, are important as breeding or nursery grounds for both commercial and threatened fish species, some form refugia for surviving non-target fish species, they contain a variety of habitats including riverine habitats, wetlands, sheltered littoral zones, variety of substrates such as muddy, sandy, and rocky bottoms and are accessible to researchers either by road or through water. The mapping and zonation activities on the sixteen (16) sites that had been earlier identified across the five countries as potential Biosphere Reserves were conducted by GIS experts in each of the five countries. In Uganda, there are five sites namely Sango Bay, Sesse Islands, Murchison Bay, Napoleon Gulf and Macdonald Berkely Bays. In Kenya, there are three (3) sites namely Kakamega Forest, Ndere and Ruma. In Tanzania, there are five sites namely Mara-Shirati Bay, Speke Gulf, Mwanza Gulf, Emin Pasha Gulf and Kagera-Rubafu Bay. In Rwanda the sites are Kagera-Rubafu Bay shared with Tanzania, Rusumo and Nyabarongo River Basin considered as part of the upper headwaters of the river Nile. In Burundi the only site is Ruvubu river valley. The mapping and zonation involved a total of 170 local communities across all the sites. Later, validation and consensus meetings were held attended by 137 participants consisting of representatives of government ministries agencies, civil society organizations, the Regional Agency Lake Victoria Basin Commission, the National Commissions for UNESCO and the specialized National Committees of MAB, IHP and IGCP. Proposals were also shared about management structure and activity plans. The participants that made commitments towards ensuring the nomination is successfully achieved included Uganda’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community, Rwanda’s representative of the Ministry of Environment, Uganda’s representative of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Tanzania’s National Commission for UNESCO, Kenya’s representatives of the Forest Services, Wildlife Services and National Commission for UNESCO. Among the United Nations Agencies, the UNDP Country representative and UNESCO Regional Office, Nairobi made commitments of support. Two consultative meetings were held one of which served as validation and another as dissemination and consensus building. The meetings welcomed the initiative observing the importance of all stakeholders joining hands to make the nomination process a success. The representative of LVBC pledged to take up the matter of TBR nomination and promised to talk to the various development partners that LVBC is working with as well as present the matter to the Sectoral meeting. Stakeholders recommended that all areas protected by legislation including fish breeding areas and other fragile locations be zoned as the core zone while other activity areas like small-scale agriculture areas be zoned in the transitional zone. It was recommended that the management structure presented in the meeting be adopted subject to being inclusive of relevant stakeholders and in compliance with UNESCO guidelines for BRs and TBRs with leadership provided by government not Civil Society Organization. It was further recommended that the LVBC appoints a focal point officer dedicated to Biosphere Reserve issues as it takes lead of the nomination process by tabling before the sectoral committee and the EAC Council of Ministers with the support of the National Commissions for UNESCO. That the resource book being developed for community sensitization and capacity building be translated into other languages such as Kiswahili and French for easy information sharing with communities. It was also proposed to have an emailing list of all experts and all participants to enable continuous engagements on the Lake Victoria basin and after the GIS experts have refined the zonation areas as recommended with complete information and the final report prepared, work on the compilation of the nomination dossier begins immediately.