The Health of People and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project used stakeholder engagement, education and a series of community meetings to allow communities to identify the issues most important to them and identify potential solutions. From there, the communities were able to work with local officials to draft and amend a set of by-laws around these issues that everyone in the community could agree upon.
In May 2017, the African Great Lakes Conference: Conservation and Development in a Changing Climate was held in Entebbe, Uganda. This conference sought to increase coordination, strengthen capacity, inform policy with science, and promote basin-scale ecosystem management in the region. Because all of the African Great Lakes cross borders, the benefits they offer and the challenges they face are best managed at a basin-wide level.
Lake Victoria, the largest African lake, is shared by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Its fisheries are a source of livelihoods for a large population of the lake's basin through fishing, trade and associated activities. It also contributes to the economies of the three countries through fish exports. The declining trend of fish harvests and fish stock biomass, attributed mainly to increasing fishing effort and illegal fishing, threatens the sustainability of the lake's fisheries. The regional trade in immature fish backed by high-level corruption has exacerbated the decline.
The FAO GeoNetwork provides internet access to interactive maps, satellite imagery and related spatial databases maintained by FAO and its partners. Its purpose is to improve access to and integrated use of spatial data and information. Through this website FAO facilitates multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable development and supports decision making in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food security.
The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) is a capacity building network of networks that promotes dialogue among science, policy and practice for more effective management of biodiversity and ecosystems, contributing to long-term human well-being and sustainable development. BES-Net is hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and implemented through partnerships with the Norwegian Environment Agency, SwedBio at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).
As part of its contribution to strengthening institutional and professional capacity to enable African researchers to fully participate in defining and implementing priority population and health programs in the continent, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) has developed several research capacity strengthening initiatives.
The APHRC offers the following:
The Africa Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Alliance works to increase the uptake of CSA practices, particularly on the most vulnerable rural communities. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) describes agricultural practices, approaches and systems that sustainably and reliably increase food production and the ability of farmers to earn a living, while protecting or restoring the environment. The combined effects of climate change, inequity and population pressures are escalating the food and nutrition security and income challenges faced by Sub-Saharan Africa 's smallholder farmers.
This Story Map focuses on seven of Africa’s Great Lakes (Albert, Edward, Kivu, Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa, Tanganyika, Victoria, Turkana) and highlights key biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics designed to stimulate discussions around development and conservation of the lakes and their basins, especially in the face of increasing variability and change in climate.
As part of an IUCN-led project, this document outlines optimal solutions for a critical sites network that best represents freshwater biodiversity in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB). Using this approach the authors provide a foundation for species conservation through site protection whilst also maximising species climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.
The Great Lakes of Africa help to sustain the economies of several East African nations. Changes in the condition of these lakes is of great concern. The objective of this research was to examine long-term variations of precipitation in the Great Lakes region. Rainfall over the catchment was assessed for Lakes Albert, Edward, Kivu, Malawi, Tanganyika, Turkana, and Victoria, using gauge data. In most cases over 100 years of record are available. Assessments were also made for the region as a whole. TRMM satellite estimates of precipitation were also used to examine the years since 1998.