Resources

Lake Malawi/Niassa/Nyasa is the third deepest freshwater lake in the world. The basin is densely populated and has a high prevalence of water borne diseases. The lakes is home to 800 to 1000 fish species, making it the most fish species-rich lank in the world. The lake employs 56,000 fishers who harvest more than 100,000 tons of fish per year. Overall, the fishery supports the livelihoods of more than 1.6 million people. Major threats to the lake include overuse, invasive species, habitat degradation and deforestation, pollution and climate change.

Lake Tanganyika is the deepest lake in Africa and is the largest among the Albertine Rift lakes. The basin has a population of more than 10 million people and the population density within the basin varies between 13 and 250 persons per km2. The countries in the basin are among the poorest in the world. Lake Tanganyika also has one of the richest freshwater ecosystems in the world, with over 2000 species, 500 of them not found anywhere else on earth, making the lake their home.

Lake Turkana is shallow, but it is the world's largest permanent desert and alkaline lake in the world. The lake water comes from river inflows and all water loss in the lake comes from evaporation. The lake's basin is sparsely populated and residents of the lake lack access to potable water, causing high rates of disease prevalence in the basin. These conditions are compounded by low literacy levels and extremely high poverty levels.

Reflecting on the added value of a population, health, and environment (PHE) approach, this technical brief discusses implementation experience stemming from phase one of the Health of People and Environment-Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project.

The APRN/BEPB worked with households and community leaders to improve soil fertility in the Mutumba commune of the Karusi Province of Burundi.

The Health of People and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project used stakeholder engagement, education and a series of community meetings to allow communities to identify the issues most important to them and identify potential solutions. From there, the communities were able to work with local officials to draft and amend a set of by-laws around these issues that everyone in the community could agree upon.

Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world, boasting the world’s largest freshwater fishery. Over time, unsustainable fishing and farming practices, as well as increased demand for resources from rapidly growing population, has overwhelmed fisheries that have traditionally supported the basin. A new approach to conservation in the basin—to save families as well as the fish and their habitats—is the Health of People and Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin: Beach Management Units project's work with Beach Management Units.