Press Release

USAID East Africa Signs Agreement with East African Community's Lake Victoria Basin Commission to Conserve Mara River Basin

 | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A three-year agreement for an estimated three million dollars was signed on September 23 between USAID/East Africa’s Acting Regional Director, Larry Meserve, and the East African Community’s (EAC) Deputy Secretary General for Finance and Administration, Dr. Julius Rotich. Activities to be carried out under the agreement will help ensure that the Mara River Basin, already in jeopardy, is brought under sound management for a long, healthy future.  With headwaters in the Mau Forest, the Mara Basin watershed extends from Kenya to northern Tanzania (encompassing Serengeti National Park and the Masai Mara Game Reserve).  The Mara River Basin also makes up part of the eastern rim of the larger Lake Victoria Basin area. Wildlife anchoring Kenyan and Tanzanian tourism rely on the healthy functioning of this uniquely integrated and rich ecosystem for their existence--and the survival of this ecosystem depends on the flow of the Mara River. Under the agreement, signed at EAC’s Arusha headquarters, the EAC’s Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) is responsible for facilitating and promoting sustainable cross-border Mara River Basin management.  LVBC will also work to increase regional economic growth and integration and reduce poverty in the Mara River Basin. As a regional, intergovernmental organization, the EAC’s LVBC is strategically placed to harmonize policies for the conservation of this globally treasured area. 

The Mara River’s diminished water resources are a major threat to the Mara River Basin ecosystem: less water flowing in the Mara means less drinking water for wildlife and pastoral communities; significantly increased potential for conflict; and diminishing economic returns. At the signing ceremony, USAID/East Africa’s director Larry Meserve emphasized, “The safari tourism industry in Kenya and Tanzania will be severely affected unless Africans manage their watershed ecosystems.” Building on this sentiment, EAC Deputy Secretary Rotich stressed the importance of the Mara River Basin as a threatened ecosystem, hence a threat to what some refer to as one of the great Wonders of the World. He welcomed the support from USAID/EA and emphasized that the support is expected to go a long way to reverse negative environmental trends and increase collaboration and support.       

USAID/East Africa’s “Transboundary Water for Biodiversity in the Mara River Basin” initiative began in 2005 and has made significant progress, though much remains to be done. Under the new agreement, LVBC will facilitate Mara River Basin stakeholders, including Tanzanian and Kenyan government agencies, to implement the project’s 2009 Biodiversity Action Plan already adopted by EAC Ministers, to address threats to biodiversity hotspots in the Mara River Basin and identify ways to sustainably manage these habitats.  Working with all stakeholders including governments, private sector and regional organizations, LVBC will implement the project’s 2008 Mara River Environmental Flows Assessment that provided analysis to establish the legally binding minimum river reserves necessary to sustain human needs for water and protect ecosystems.

The LVBC will strive to establish a trans-boundary agreement to ensure water flows to sustain the biodiversity of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem and will encourage implementation of harmonized river basin management practices and policies. To facilitate cross boundary management of natural resources in the Mara River basin, the program has brought together forestry, water, wildlife and agricultural sectors for dialogue.  The LVBC will assert its regional leadership to expand this cooperation to protect the biodiversity within the Mara River Basin.

Mara River Basin stakeholders are divided by the national frontier between Kenya and Tanzania.  This divide can reduce information sharing and enforcement of regulations governing the use of water resources.  The survival of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem is therefore dependent on successful transboundary management of these natural resources.

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USAID/East Africa is a regional mission with offices in Nairobi.  Its goals are to promote improved regional cooperation, increase trade, competitiveness and food security, reduce conflict and improve the health and quality of life for all in the region.

The East African Community (EAC) is the regional intergovernmental organization of the Republics of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Rwanda and Republic of Burundi and is based in Arusha, Tanzania. Partner states of the EAC signed a 2003 Protocol on Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria Basin.

The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) was established in 2005 and is based in Kisumu, Kenya. The LVBC’s vision for the region is “A prosperous population living in a healthy and sustainably managed environment providing equitable opportunities and benefits.”

 

For more information please contact us at:

eastafrica-info@usaid.gov