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77 An Attempt Towards Management: An Examination of the Existing Institutional Frameworks in the Lake Victoria Region Daniel Peter Lesooni and Christopher Ogachi Introduction This paper is an attempt to describe the various institutions that manage Lake Victoria. The description of various institutions points out a common platform where various countries, particularly Eastern African countries, cooperate for the benefits of the Lake, guided by their interests. Cooperation encourages collaboration which might lead to substantive agreements and coordination among the riparian states. Despite cooperation among these states, conflict is inevitable and countries around Lake Victoria have come up with various initiatives to encourage cooperation. This paper emphasises the importance of managing Lake Victoria in a cooperative spirit since it has shared opportunities, for all riparian states, from a social, political and economical aspect. The Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP) The LVEMP is a comprehensive programme that covers Lake Victoria and its catchments in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The LVEMP is a project that deals with both regional environment and national resources to be implemented in the Lake region. The work of the LVEMP is to clean up the lake and its catchments and manage the ecosystem sustainably. This includes reducing human waste from both urban and rural areas, soil erosion, industrial effluent, eutrophication, algae levels and water hyacinth. In general the LVEMP tries to rehabilitate the lake catchments. The LVEMP commenced its activities in 1994 with a tripartite agreement effective from 5March, 1997 with a $70 million1 support from the International Development Association (IDA) and Global Environmental Trust Fund (GEF). The components of the LVEMP include management, research and extension of fisheries policies laws and their enforcement, water hyacinth control, water quality and ecosystem management and land use and wetland management.2 The project’s main objectives include the sustainable development of riparian communities through the use of resources within the basin to generate food, employmentandincome,supplysafewaterandsustainadisease-freeenvironment. It also aims at conserving biodiversity and genetic resources for the benefit of the riparian and global community. After years of project implementation, it managed to achieve the following: hyacinth infestation has been controlled by at least 80% i.e. mechanical harvesting at Owen fall Dams, Port Bell and 78 Kisumu ports through the use of hyacinth weevils to control weeds.3 However, the hyacinth still remains the major challenge facing the riparian states. The LVEMP has initiated several micro-projects in the areas of health, education, sanitation and water supply, access to roads, fisheries and aforestation. In furthering its projects, the LVEMP encouraged community participation through planting of trees around the basin area. In addition to this, it harmonised fisheries legislation for efficiency. LVEMP II is now in the process of incorporating stakeholders and the community around the lake basin into its activities. The Organisation set-up consists of a National Secretariat, assisted by an Operations Officer, Assistant, Accounts Assistant and a Secretary. The Support staff includes three drivers and an office assistant.4 Its mission is to achieve environmentally and socially sustainable economic development for Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) so as to restore a healthy, varied ecosystem that is inherently stable and can support sustainable human activities in the catchments and in the lake itself. The LVEMP receives funds from the International Development Association (IDA), Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank and the governments Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Other agencies and donors are like the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The LVEMP faces certain challenges and limitations beginning with harsh environmental conditions in the catchment area. This is due to the pressure from the increasing population which has led to severe degradation of resources as seen in the human waste which is increasingly being drained into the Lake and agricultural activities that are encroaching on the wet lands that serve as catchment areas for the Lake. Poverty and lack of awareness amongst the people living around the lake is an obstacle to sustainable development of the area. The LVEMP has a huge responsibility of dealing with most of the problems affecting Lake Victoria. It is faced with the challenge of reducing all adverse economic impacts on the lake, and therefore follow-up on various projects implemented is not always done. Finally, the LVEMP is faced with problems of integrating the objectives and priorities of the programmes into national and local development plans of partner states due to various, divergent interests of the three riparian countries. The successes of the LVEMP have included the signing of a tripartite agreement for...

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