Presented by Mr.Billy Kapua

ABOUT

FRIENDS OF LAKE TURKANA.

Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT), is a grassroots organization that focuses on environmental justice, resource governance and community rights. It started up in 2009 to fight for the protection of Lake Turkana and its ecosystem. Over the years, we have recognized the need to work on environmental justice, natural resource governance and community rights.

We focus on the western and eastern shores of Lake Turkana and work on issues that transverse borders and look at the entire Lake Turkana basin.

Lake Turkana; Concerns and Challenges Facing Fishing Communities

In northwestern Kenya, the Lake Turkana basin is a critical livelihood for the Lake Turkana basin indigenous tribes of the Daasanach, Turkana, Elmolo, Gabbra, Rendille and Samburu. The Omo River flows from Ethiopia and terminates in Lake Turkana, where the Omo River is shared by Kenya and Ethiopia. The people who live in these areas depend heavily upon these waters, however no agreements between any of the two countries exist to define and safeguard their rights. For years, Lake Turkana Basin communities’ have been accustomed to adapting to a changing environment. But in recent years, they have faced challenges unlike any in living memory: As temperatures in the region have risen and water supplies have dwindled, as the effects of climate change are felt by communities already fighting for survival.

The CURRENT and POTENTIAL THREATS facing the Lake Turkana basin are:

  1. Construction of Gibe 3 dam and subsequently Gibe 4 and 5- Lake Turkana is dependent on the Omo River for almost 90% of its inflow; this river is the lake’s “umbilical cord”. If the Omo River inflow is reduced, the lake level and associated biomass will fall. If the Omo river flow patterns are modified, the lake ecologywill be impacted. The lake is almost entirely within Kenya, whereas the Omo River is shared by Kenya and Ethiopia. Hence management of the Omo Basin and lake water resources presents trans-boundary challenges.
  2. The sugarcane and cotton plantations on the Lower Omo – The plantations being undertaken within the lower Omo will have negative impacts on the lake. Because sugarcane and cotton are water thirsty plants, no measures of the amount of water that will be drained out of the Omo River which will definitely affect the water draining into L.Turkana. Also with the plantations consuming a lot of sugar cane, during the flooding, (controlled or uncontrolled flooding) will deposit phosphates into L.Turkana, thus altering the chemical balance of the lake.
  3. Overpopulation – An increase in human and animal population affects land use thus impacting the basin and the ecosystem
  4. Climate change – The L.Turkana communities both pastoralists and fisher folk are especially vulnerable to climate change and variability because of the intimate ways in which they use and live off natural resources and their dependence on cultural cohesion.
  5. Over grazing therefore loss of vegetation thus increasing environmental degradation and soil erosion

The Role and Challenges of Fishing Communities and Beach Management Units (BMU)

Managing natural resources remains a challenge in developing countries, where information is scarce, demands are often high and the
Resources available to improve management are limited. The shift away from centralized
Management has been broadly welcomed, and community-based natural resource management approaches have began to be embraced in many countries for different types of
Natural resources and situation. However, a lot of this is theoretical and actual implementation of this will require both state and non-state actors.

For a long time governments made decisions on the management of fisheries resources in Lakes in Kenya and East Africa with little or no input from the resource users and other stakeholders. This approach has been ineffective and these resources have continued to decline over the years. Legislation has therefore been enacted to facilitate the involvement of the resource users in fisheries management through the creation of a local co- management unit the Beach Management Units (BMU).A few years ago, BMU's were formed and these local institutions were charged with regulating fishing along specific stretches of the lake and shore. Each BMU is headed by a committee with 9 to 15 democratically elected members from each of four different stakeholder groups: boat owners, fishing crew members, fish mongers, and other stakeholders. In this way wage laborers, merchants, and other low-income families associated with local fishing can participate in the committee along with wealthier boat owners. To address gender disparities, BMUs are encouraged to have women make up a percentage of the committee whenever possible.

Good governanceiscloselyassociatedwiththestrengtheningofdemocracyandensuringdomestically and internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms requires, therefore, and necessarily, appropriate environmental management. In this field the environment is widely recognized as a value in itself. In the Kenyan Constitution, environmental protection faces a dual perspective, considering it as a fundamental task of the state, and simultaneously as a fundamental citizens’ right. With the current interest in natural resources exploration and exploitation in the greater Turkana basin, we have realized a lack of understanding among the local communities cutting across borders; from cases of Gibe hydro-electric dams which while across the border in Ethiopia violate constitutional rights

Challenges of fishing communities in Lake Turkana

  1. Existing threats facing Lake Turkana and the entire basin which are supported or ignored by the same government that should be protecting them.
  2. Lack of adequate capacity in regards to fisheries management and governance
  3. Need to meet basic needs leads the fishermen to engage in negative practices such as overfishing, undersize fishing and fishing in protected sites.
  4. In a bid to make a catch in the deep waters, the Lake Turkana communities i.e.Daasanach, and Turkana; western and eastern shores communities traverses insecure zones mostly leading to casualties and fatalities
  5. Lack of Naval security for the fishermen especially in border areas.
  6. Poor land use management along the river basins affects the lake.
  7. Ineffective relations with Government
  8. Need for continued information on natural resources both land and water to show the relation of the need for natural resource balance.

PRESENTER

BILLY KAPUA

Prog. Ass. Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT)