Africa is home to some of the largest lakes in the world, both in size and volume.
These lakes play a significant role in the political, social,
economic and environmental life of many of the continent's people and
their importance is set to increase. However, the strain placed upon
these water resources is also forecast to pose significant challenges
for their future sustainable development. This points to the important
internal dimension of African water politics. That these issues remain,
for the moment, relatively marginal, also impels all those concerned
with water to consider its future management with great care.
Mainstream consensus in water security and politics holds that
African water resources are at risk, and that most countries are water
stressed. Moreover any decision-maker has to take into account the
variability of rain, risks of droughts and floods and the fact that
sovereignty over rivers and lakes is often shared as a result of the
demarcation of colonial borders.
Firstly the issue of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU)
fishing must remain firmly fixed in the spotlight. Indeed, the World
Wildlife Fund South Africa (WWF-SA) recently highlighted the perilous
future facing inshore fishing sources for Africa's littoral states. For
instance according to the WWF-SA a great number of South Africa's
inshore marine resources are considered overexploited or collapsed.
This also applies in other parts of Africa, yet attention must be
paid to internal sources of fish such as rivers and lakes, thereby
placing emphasis on the importance of cooperative monitoring and
regulation of fishing. The dependency on fish as a source of protein and
livelihood is also likely to increase and the example of Lake Victoria
further shows how the management of these areas must be efficient and
coordinated. The introduction of Nile Perch in the past was primarily
motivated by the objective of bolstering development, but this had a
detrimental effect on the lake, whose ecology has changed as a result of
this past meddling.
In August 2011 the tiny Kenyan island of Migingo in Lake Victoria
became the focal point for a dispute between Uganda and Kenya resulting
from past uncertainties of borders and contemporary pressures for
securing food and livelihoods. The value of the island lies in its
location within rich fishing grounds; it is however a mere 500m from
Ugandan waters, and accusations of poaching and unequal access to
ostensibly shared resources heightened tensions.
It also illustrates how the past management of lakes continues to
impact upon the situation today, and advocating prudent and cooperative
strategies now is vital to avoid a repetition of tension and possible
conflict.
In addition, many people continue to lack access to safe drinking
water and water shortages leave many people suffering from diseases. The
objective of meeting the Millennium Development Goals is likely to
remain difficult to attain for the majority of African countries.
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