Environment for Development: An Ecosystems Assessment of Lake Victoria Basin Environmental and Socio-economic Status, Trends and Human Vulnerabilities

Abstract

In relation to the development of an Environment Outlook Report of the Lake Victoria basin, a stakeholder workshop on Lake Victoria was convened by the Pan African START Secretariat (PASS) in September 2004, through funding from UNEP-DEWA and START through the United States National Science Foundation / US Climate Change Science Program (USNSF/USCCSP). The stakeholder workshop brought together a team of experts from riparian countries of the lake basin region to discuss the issues and scope of the Lake Victoria Basin Environment Outlook Report, including reaching consensus on the structure of the Report, themes to be covered, emerging issues, outlook, experts to write various sections, content of the Report and policy options for action. The expert input was invaluable and sincere appreciation is extended to this group. The Report was collated by the Pan African START Secretariat (PASS) as an input into the Africa Environment Outlook (AEO) 2 and Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) 4 reports produced by UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA). This publication of technical papers on Lake Victoria, which have been written by some of the experts who were party to the Stakeholders Workshop in 2004, goes hand in hand with the Lake Victoria Environment Outlook Report 2006 as an information resource document. A whole array of issues are covered, including such aspects as: people and livelihoods, health and nutrition, water and land resources, land cover and land use change, freshwater pollution, aquatic biodiversity, energy and environment, natural disasters, fisheries, environmental assets, and legal and institutional frameworks in the lake basin. Each of the papers, while focussing on a particular aspect, tackle the relevant elements of these broad issues to varying degrees, offering, therefore, a richly spiced and integrated perspective of the environmental concerns within the lake basin. We would like to thank all the reviewers as they gave very useful comments on the manuscripts.