Kenya: Lobby Group Roots for Conservation of Lake Turkana

By Lilian Museka

NAIROBI--Lake Turkana is in danger of drying up unless the government and International agencies step in to stop unsustainable development both within and outside Kenya.

Friends of Lake Turkana (FolT), a lobby group claims appeals to protect the lake have continued to fall on deaf ears.

The group adds that the most critical development that threatens to adversely affect the lake for decades is the Gibe III hydroelectric dam being built on the Omo River in Ethiopia. 

The group says the recent announcement by the World Bank to give  up to $648 million loan to build a 1,000 km electricity transmission line from Gibe III into Kenya was a blow to the endangered lake. Ethiopia plans to sell about 60 per cent of the power generated by Gibe III to Kenya through this line.

Earlier, the UNESCO World Heritage Sites committee rejected an appeal by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an appointed advisor to the committee, to place Lake Turkana and three other endangered properties around the world in the list of World Heritage in Danger.

This effectively cut the lake out of a share of the $4 million funding that UNESCO provides every year to support the most threatened sites.

The group claims that impacts of climate change have seen natural resources in Lake Turkana dwindle, leading to frequent resource related conflict between various indigenous peoples who depend on the lake for their survival

In July 2012, 500 Turkana fishermen are reported to have fled from the lake following alleged attacks by Merille gunmen from Ethiopia. Six people were also reported to have been killed.

Lake Turkana is home to Nile Crocodiles, hippos and other large animals. There is also a wide variety of unique birds and other wildlife.

 A recent discovery of new fossils that indicate a previously undocumented species of the early humans also mean that Lake Turkana basin is of global importance to the origin of mankind. The Lower Omo and Turkana basins also support more than 500,000 indigenous people.

The group claims that the Kenya government continues with its plan to buy electricity that will be generated at Gibe III and has shown no commitment to protect the lake, its people, or the unique natural environment of the largest desert lake in the world.

FoLT has called on the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia to intervene and settle the matter through consultative efforts that will ensure all parties agree on the way forward.