KANANGIRE: Lake Victoria is a regional resource, benefits all EAC states

Former executive secretary of Lake Victoria Basin Commission Dr Canisius Kanangire. PHOTO | FILE  

By ANITA CHEPKOECH

Former executive secretary of Lake Victoria Basin Commission Dr Canisius Kanangire spoke to Anita Chepkoech about the commission and its role in conserving the region’s largest freshwater lake.

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How has the LVBC contributed to East Africa’s integration agenda? 

The commission has implemented many projects across the five partner states with regard to environment, water and sanitation and infrastructure development.

We also meet at policy level to harmonise laws and develop other frameworks on how to equitably share and manage trans-boundary resources. 

Rwanda and Burundi do not share Lake Victoria. How do they benefit?

Rwanda and Burundi have economic interests in Lake Victoria as they are affected by its ecological changes.

In fact, there is a link between erosive and invasive deposits from the bordering hills of Rwanda and Burundi and the quality of the waters in Entebbe, Kisumu and Mwanza towns on Lake Victoria. We look at Lake Victoria as an economic opportunity for regional transport and trade promotion.

Most of the projects are donor-funded. How sustainable are they?

All our projects are funded by development partners and it is a challenge sustaining them because of the unpredictability of donors.  The EAC has come up with a strategy for funding whereby partner states will increase their contributions to reduce dependency on donors.

How is the money collected shared among the partner states?

There is equity in sharing the money. The difference in the amounts from one country to another depends on the nature of projects. For water supply and sanitation, for instance, all countries got around $20 million to develop projects in three towns and $15 million for the environment.  But some projects only touch on specific countries. An example is the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem between Kenya and Tanzania.

Talking of the Mara ecosystem that anchors the Mara and Serengeti national reserves, it  is one project you fought for while in office. What are its major challenges and are they being overcome?

If we pay attention to biodiversity, we will overcome the many challenges and sustain the lives of people and animals who depend on it.

One major threat is the reduced water levels due to uncontrolled obstraction, destruction of water towers and deforestation. Pollution from towns, hotels and unchecked development are other affecting the ecosystem while poaching is a serious threat as it targets particular species, which can create imbalances in the food chain.

What has the commission done to address these problems?

We have put in place numerous interventions in the Mara ecosystem at the policy level and at the community level.

The two affected countries have harmonised laws to guide how they use and manage trans-boundary resource. Joint management will have a bigger impact than having separate laws.

Community water users associations have also been trained to monitor water conservation and to control quantities used so that they don’t exceed the capacity of the Mara river.

We researched water flow and came up with recommendations on water extraction and levels the water should not exceed.

On biodiversity, we are addressing the rampant poaching of elephants and rhinos. We have an information system that monitors the key species.

We also set up a community association together with hoteliers in the Mara region to educate locals on conservation, issues of solid and liquid waste management, which is crowned with an annual conference called Mara Day Celebrations every September.

We have also launched an award system for the best hotels in both Mara and Serengeti.

What has the commission done to prevent the pollution that has choked Lake Victoria?

We have put in place several measures to reverse this worrying trend.

One is that we have encouraged industries, mining companies, small and medium enterprises in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to adopt cleaner production technologies so that the amount of affluent released into the lake is brought down.

This will have great economic benefits, thus improving livelihoods. In 2014, we awarded the best companies that have adopted the cleaner systems during the Regional Resource and Cleaner Production Award ceremony in Entebbe Uganda. These industries have understood that the higher they pollute, the more the cost of production.