Community conservation
in Lake Victoria
Helping lakeside communities protect and restore fisheries
Africa’s Lake Victoria is a global biodiversity hotspot and the second most productive inland fishery in the world — providing livelihoods for around 4 million people. But overfishing, invasive species, habitat loss, climate change and pollution are driving many of the lake’s 400 native fish species into decline. Around 76 percent of the lake’s endemic species are currently threatened with extinction, including many that local communities rely on for food and income.
THE PROJECT
With funding from the UK Government through the Darwin Initiative, and in partnership with Pathfinder International, Fauna and Flora International, and Victory Farms LLC, Conservation International is helping lakeside communities restore the health of Lake Victoria. We are supporting the establishment of “community conservation areas” where vulnerable fish are known to breed. In these locations, local communities are making plans to limit human activity to help native fish recover.
THE IMPACT
Freshwater systems have long defined life along the shores of Lake Victoria, but protection of fisheries has been constrained by limited resources and lack of support at the community level. Conservation International is helping communities build lasting and impactful protections for Lake Victoria by setting aside “community conservation areas” to protect native fish. Through a series of biological surveys, we are studying the fish, water quality and other aquatic conditions so that we have a strong baseline to track our progress restoring healthy habitats. We are also measuring baseline socioeconomic and gender indicators to track our progress creating better livelihoods and supporting the inclusion of women in decision-making and work opportunities.
While these restoration efforts hold enormous promise, this work cannot succeed without local communities participating in designing incentives and financing plans for the conservation areas — so that communities can curtail fishing in those areas and manage them over the long term. In partnership with Kenya’s Beach Management Units — a community-based fisheries co-management organization — Conservation International is offering workshops and other awareness-building initiatives within lakeside communities. Next steps will include demarcating the conservation areas and putting in place measures for the Beach Management Units to protect them.
Our long-term goal is for community conservation areas to be established around the lake in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, so that native fish populations can rebound and local communities can continue to benefit from those fish, as they have done for generations. In tandem with this work, we are supporting environmentally responsible aquaculture, which can help improve food security and offer alternate livelihoods to traditional fishing.