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AUTHORS ABSTRACT The TransVic project provides extension agents, policy makers and researchers with information, methods, technologies and approaches for improving land productivity while enhancing the local and regional environments in the Lake Victoria basin. Since 1999 the project has covered three river basins in the Kenyan portion of the Lake Victoria basin, with emphasis on the highly-degraded and impoverished Nyando river basin. The project approach integrates across scales and disciplines and develops new approaches for research, extension and institutional development. River monitoring and sediment core analysis are used to quantify sediment loads in the major rivers of Kenya, and to relate sediment levels to the ongoing eutrophication of Lake Victoria. Spectral reflectance and advanced analytical methods have been developed for interpolating soil properties across large parts of Western Kenya from a library of soil samples from the region. The "snowflake" research design has been developed for the integrated collection and analysis of socioeconomic and biophysical data at scales from small plot to 100 square kilometre blocks. Farm and community trials with new techniques and approaches have been designed in response to community priorities, have been implemented with farmers, and have been integrated into the main extension approach of the Ministry of Agriculture. The project works closely with agricultural extension staff to make the extension approach more effective, better targeted, more sustainable and more appropriate to the needs of poor farmers. Joint impact assessments are conducted. Extension staff have been trained in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E), and the method has been integrated into extension planning and assessment. Some of the extension staff are already using PM&E to evaluate community implementation rates and impacts. Households surveyed for socioeconomic analyses are georeferenced to link socioeconomic and spatial data. Results have also been generated on the magnitude of the land degradation and poverty problems in the basin, and the links between land degradation, river pollution levels, and the historical deposition of sediment into Lake Victoria. Maps showing various soil attributes - phosphorus deficiency, rates of soil erosion and deposition, areas formerly forested - have been produced for the 3 500 square kilometer Nyando river basin. Trials of agroforestry techniques, water management and grazing exclusion have been conducted with farmers in a number of land management "hotspot" areas, and some promising results have been obtained. While over 3 000 farmers in 18 focal areas have adopted some new innovations, it is clear that both the land management and human development problems are deep-rooted, and will require large-scale investments and real commitment at the policy level. A number of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and local civic organizations have committed their energies to redressing the problems of the region. LEAD CENTRE AND KEY PARTNER The lead Centre is the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Joint implementation with the National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP) of the Kenya Ministry of Agriculture. Collaborators in various aspects of the research agenda include: The Kenya Ministry for Water Resources, the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Surveys of Kenya, the Regional Land Management Unit, the African Centre for Technology Studies, and the universities of Bonn, Egerton, Florida, Maseno, Moi, Nairobi, Kenyatta, Southampton, Stockholm, Utretch and Uppsala. Collaborators in extension and development in particular locations include: The Consortium for Scaling up Options for Increasing Farm Productivity (COSOFAP), which brings together over 40 research and development organizations in Western Kenya, AIC Diguna, the Tinderet Tea Factory and Vi Agroforestry. Funding is provided by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency, the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, the European Union and ICRAF core. Organizations involved in policy aspects: County Councils of the Ministry of Local Government and the National Environment Management Authority of Kenya. LOCATION Kenya, with relevance to the entire Lake Victoria basin in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. |
Description of problem
The Lake Victoria basin (Figure 1) covers an area of 184 200 km2 of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and supports about 28 million of the poorest rural inhabitants in the world. Poverty rates in the basin are 50% or more, and are especially high in the lakeshore areas of Kenya, where the situation is further compounded by a high incidence of HIV/AIDS and water-associated diseases along waterways. The World Agroforestry Centre has been working with national partners around the Lake Victoria basin (in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda) for many years, and has developed agroforestry techniques that have been shown to improve the farm resource base and the food security of poor farmers. While thousands of farmers of both genders and all wealth groups have now adopted these techniques, little was known about the applicability of the techniques for the wider population of farmers in the lake basin, or for redressing the daunting environmental problems experienced in the area.
FIGURE 1 Lake edge and inlet drainage basins
Lake Victoria, with a surface area of 68 000 km2, is the world's second largest fresh water lake and is a main source of the River Nile. Accelerated soil erosion and nutrient runoff, urban and industrial pollution and atmospheric deposition have induced a rapid rise in nutrient levels in the lake. This has in turn led to changes in the lake ecology and prolific growth of aquatic weeds dominated by the invasive water hyacinth (Bullock et al. 1995; Scheren 1995) (Figure 2). As a result, the fishery industry, the direct economic mainstay for half a million persons in the lake basin through fishing and fish processing, is in decline.
FIGURE 2 A close-up of the invasive and prolific water hyacinth near Dunga beach, Kenya.
PICTURE SOURCE: SIDA
At the time that the TransVic project was initiated in 1999, very little was known about the magnitude of sediment load from the catchment area into the lake, the key sources of that sediment, or the links between sedimentation and land management "hot spots" (Figure 3). Agroforestry practices, such as improved fallows, biomass transfer and rotational woodlots, had been shown to be appropriate for limited areas, but had not been widely tested across the region. ICRAF's comparative advantage in leading research on diagnosing land management problems and testing solutions to those problems was derived from its long experience with developing land management options with farmers in the three lakeshore countries. This includes its innovative use of reflectance spectrometry to map erosion risk and soil deficiency (Soule and Shepherd 2000; Shepherd and Walsh 2002), its extensive network of partnerships, and its ability to integrate a wide array of disciplinary perspectives.
FIGURE 3 A Landsat Thematic Mapper image taken in 2000 of the Nyando Riverbasin and surrounding area (basin boundary superimposed in yellow). The filmy white plume on the lake is sediment carried by River Nyando into Lake Victoria
Project objectives
The purpose of the project is to provide extension agents, policy makers and researchers with information, methods, technologies and approaches for improving land productivity, while enhancing local and regional environments in the Lake Victoria basin. The aim is to achieve better targeting of areas and needy groups, more effective extension approaches, more effective collective management of resources, and improved policies.
The objectives are to:
1 Assess problems: Identify and evaluate land management 'hot spots' in the Lake Victoria basin and identify intervention points for preventing or mitigating those hot spots.
2 Designing options: Identify and evaluate technologies, institutional arrangements and policies for alleviating poverty, while protecting the local and regional environment of the Lake Victoria basin.
3 Assessing impact: Quantify the actual and potential impacts of promising land management interventions on human welfare (food security, income, gender equality) and the environment (soil quality, water quality and hydrologic function).
4 Improve linkages with development partners: Enhance research and extension linkages for improved land management in the Lake Victoria basin.
INRM research approach
The TransVic project adopted the INRM approach described by Izac and Sanchez (2001) and was presented in summary form in the ICRAF Strategic Plan for 2000 to 2010. The project has made three adaptations to the INRM framework. First, from the outset of the project scientists have taken a multi-scale approach, simultaneously assessing problems at the plot, farm, catchment and river basin levels using a number of tools. Such an approach has required significant resources of money and expertise, a level of investment that was easily justified for the Lake Victoria basin, but which might not be justified in all watershed management contexts. Results from the large-area assessments are necessarily relatively coarse, and thus are most relevant to programme planning, environmental regulation and area-based recommendations. In contrast results from smaller areas provide greater input into the design of technologies and water management interventions.
The second innovation regards trade-offs. While we acknowledge that there are clear trade-offs associated with different approaches to land management, we start from the premise that technical and institutional solutions will only be viable if they are acceptable and attractive to the smallholder farmers and rural communities living in the basin. The poverty that exists in the basin is of utmost concern and land management solutions must simultaneously alleviate that poverty and contribute to better land management for local and regional benefit. Fortunately, it appears there are many farming practices, institutional reforms, policy changes, and water management investments that can produce those win-win solutions (Figure 4).
FIGURE 4 Possible win-win solutions that alleviate poverty and contribute to better land management for local and regional benefit
The third innovation was to clarify the impact pathway from production of research outputs, to changes in behavior (outcomes), to impacts on people's lives, their local environments and the regional environment.
River monitoring and sediment core analysis
At the time the TransVic project was begun, there was very little systematic collection of data on water quantity or quality in the Kenyan portion of the Lake Victoria Basin. Remote sensing studies conducted by ICRAF scientists in 1998 had led us to observe a major plume of sediment extending into Lake Victoria from the outlet of the Nyando river (Science online). By routinely monitoring the sediment and nutrient load in the Nyando, Nzoia, Yala and Sondu-Miriu rivers since 1999, it has been possible to document the magnitude of the problem and compare the Nyando to other Kenyan rivers. Analysis of sediment cores extracted from the mouth of the Nyando river has also allowed the quantification of the magnitude of the sediment load and the changes in magnitude over the last 100 years.
Using reflectance spectrometry to integrate soils' results across scales.
Reflectance spectrometry was found to be a very useful tool for developing inferences about the chemical and physical properties of soil that determine fertility, erosion and hydrologic function, as well as the history of dominant plant type. By building a library of spectra for well-characterized soils from across the watershed, we were able to construct watershed-level profiles and maps of soil fertility (devising a spectral fertility index), hydraulic conductivity (Omuto 2003), erosion/deposition status, and historic land use (Shepherd and Walsh 2000, 2001).
The "snowflake" protocol
What we have dubbed "the snowflake protocol" is used to integrate the collection and analysis of multi-scale socioeconomic and biophysical data. The snowflake is the spatial pattern that results from the spatial sampling approach. At the finest resolution, ground observations and soil samples are taken from 30 metre by 30 metre plots that are exactly matched to the pixels of Landsat TM (thematic mapped) images through the use of survey-grade GPS (global positioning system) units. The land owner or current farmer is quizzed about the current and historical land use and investment on the plot. Twenty pixels are located in a snowflake pattern across a 1 square kilometre area, and group interviews are held with local elders to assess the overall pattern of settlement, land use and investment for the "sub-block". Twelve sub-blocks are located across a 100 square kilometer block and a range of stakeholder consultations made to establish the pattern of settlement, land use and investment in the block. This design lends itself easily to the "bolt on" of additional studies. For example, studies of the production effects of soil degradation and human illness are made using the pixels as a spatial sampling point for identifying study households.
Plot and catchment scale studies
These coarse resolution studies were complemented by studies of the effects of land use and agroforestry technologies on soil erosion, infiltration, hydraulic conductivity and runoff. Plots were established on farmers' fields to first assess the effects of land use, then to determine the effects of agroforestry and other land use interventions. Plot-level measurements are being aggregated to the catchment scale through spatially-based hydrological models.
Engaging with farmers, community groups and extension providers
At the farm and community level, our methodology builds upon the approach of our key development partner, the National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP). NALEP employs a shifting focal area (FA) approach to extension in which a team of extension workers work intensively with a group of 200-400 farm households over a 12-month period, then move on to a new area in the following year. Early in the project we agreed that ICRAF would only engage with farmers through the Ministry of Agriculture extension staff, and would generally adopt the NALEP approach to extension, but would work with extension staff to adapt and refine that approach. Since July 2000 we have collaborated with NALEP in 18 focal areas spanning seven lake basin districts (Kericho, Kisii, Nandi, Nyamira, Nyando, Siaya and Vihiga Districts) and a variety of land management problem domains (uplands, escarpments, lake shore, wetlands). Easy access to over 5 000 farmers in those focal areas has provided ample opportunities to understand farmer problems, evaluate techniques with them, and assess the impacts of research and extension. We have also been able to test and evaluate modifications to the approach - engaging unconventional extension providers, attempting new methods for enterprise development, developing a rolling two-year FA approach, interacting with farmer research committees, and using GIS (geographic infromation system) in planning - many of which are being considered for larger-scale implementation.
Agricultural management projects are largely people-oriented. Given this recognition, we also collect data on livelihood strategies (natural and physical capital, socioeconomic conditions) to complement the rich biophysical data. When quantifying the impacts of the project, this is the best way to conceptualize our scientific work in the world of farmers, and the communities they live in. Since it is rarely possible to establish and monitor a "control area" whose profile exactly matches the project area, the most feasible way to quantify impact is to compare livelihood strategies for households and communities before and after project interventions. We do this by documenting the baseline conditions before the interventions, for subsequent monitoring at the end of the project period after the interventions. By training NALEP extension staff in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E), the extension staff become active and independent partners in assessing impacts. Already, farming communities in Nandi and Siaya Districts have established their own performance indicators for self-monitored performance and impacts. The first step in monitoring is the participatory development of a community action plan (CAP). The CAP indicators then form the basis for subsequent impact assessment by the communities themselves (Figure 5).
FIGURE 5 Our community approach also involves school children through Young Farmers' Clubs. Here, club members tend to their eucalyptus woodlot in the school compound. They are from Kaplelartet Primary School, Kericho District, in the upper Nyando basin.
Dissemination and communication
Dissemination: we transfer agroforestry technologies from our previous experience in the highlands to similar agro-ecological sites in the project area. We use the same method for transfer of proven soil and water management technologies, and for scaling up community level NRM practices in water management. A component of the focal area extension approach is to encourage the communities we work with to form common interest groups on a wide range of topical areas. Our key develop-ment partner, NALEP, is responsible for the overall national extension programme in Kenya, and therefore very instrumental in our efforts to scale out interventions for improved product-ivity and better land management.
Communication: A wide range of publications have been produced and disseminated, including a few articles in refereed journals. We also publish comprehensive annual technical reports, as well as a quarterly project newsletter for a general audience covering activities in the project. The project's web site is hosted on the main ICRAF web page and is accessible online at http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/TransVic/index. htm.
Results
Assessing problems and establishing baselines for monitoring and impact assessment
SCIENCE-BASED PRIORITIZATION: FOCUS ON NYANDO BASIN
The problem analysis led to the prioritization of river basins for intervention and the selection of the Nyando basin as a priority basin for intervention and more detailed study. Consequently, much of the work in the start-up phase of the project was concentrated on the Nyando river basin.
EROSION AND PHOSPHOROUS LOSS
By using reflectance spectrometry for extrapolation of sample analyses, we now have catchment-level maps showing erosion risk for the entire Lake Victoria basin. Finer resolution maps on phosphorous deficiency and erosion-prone areas at a scale of 1:50 000 are available for the 3 517 km2 Nyando river basin. A next step will be to produce a map set to overlay erosion risk and soil nutrient deficiency, with available GIS map layers for administrative boundaries, roads and towns. Maps produced at this scale are not meant to be directly used by farmers, but have already proven to be useful for mobilizing development assistance for the area, targeting agricultural development programmes, and galvanizing the interests of environment management authorities at the district, provincial and catchment scales (Figure 6).
FIGURE 6 Expected phosphorous distribution for Nyando river basin based on a scale of 2 to 14 mg kg-1 of Olsen phosphorous (P). For profitable crop production, a minimum of 15 mg kg-1 of Olsen P is required
Source: Walsh and Shepherd in Swallow et al. (2002a)
The Nyando river basin is a major source of sediment and phosphorous flowing into Lake Victoria (Figures 7 and 8). Of the eleven rivers draining into Lake Victoria, the Nyando river basin has the highest average slope and average sediment transport capacity. Satellite images, aerial videos, ground surveillance and sediment core analyses also indicate that there has been massive soil movement into the lake over the last 50 years, principally from gully erosion of the lake plain. Measurements of phosphorous (the main nutrient causing lake eutrophication - super-saturation of nutrients in the lake) in the River Sondu showed that concentrations were lower than those in the lake, but concentrations in the River Nyando were five times higher than those of River Sondu.
FIGURE 7 Runoff from different land use types in Bur Kamach sub-basin, Nyando basin
Source: M. Hai, unpublished
FIGURE 8 Comparison of turbidity rates in four major Kenyan rivers over three successive years (2000-2002)
NUTRIENT - AND SEDIMENT - LOADING IN THE LAKE
River monitoring confirmed the findings of the satellite images. Water quality in major rivers draining into the lake is monitored at regular fortnightly intervals. The results of sediment load (turbidity) analysis are expressed as normalized turbidity units (NTUs). Water with more than five NTUs is unsafe for human consumption and aquatic life will not thrive in water with more than 50 NTUs. NTU rates in the four major lake basin rivers for the rainy season 2000-2002 are shown in Figure 8.
FIGURE 9 Photo on the left: This soil fertility trial plot in K'Obong'o in the lowlands of Nyando basin features an intercrop of maize and Sesbania sesban (background left), maize with fertilizer (background right), and no intervention in the foreground. Photo on the right: A maize and groundnut plot heavily infested with striga in Upper Nyakach, in the midlands of the Nyando basin. A pretty prolific predator, note how the pink-flowered striga stalks the line of maize.
Source: E. Gacheru in Swallow et al. (2002a)
FIGURE 9 Photo on the left: This soil fertility trial plot in K'Obong'o in the lowlands of Nyando basin features an intercrop of maize and Sesbania sesban (background left), maize with fertilizer (background right), and no intervention in the foreground. Photo on the right: A maize and groundnut plot heavily infested with striga in Upper Nyakach, in the midlands of the Nyando basin. A pretty prolific predator, note how the pink-flowered striga stalks the line of maize.
Source: E. Gacheru in Swallow et al. (2002a)
WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES ON AGROFORESTRY TECHNOLOGIES
Poor soil fertility and low phosphorous favour striga (Striga hermonthica), a prolific parasitic weed widespread in low rainfall high temperature areas of the Lake Victoria basin. Striga locks itself to maize sapping away the cereal's nutrients. Fallowing with selected nitrogen-fixing shrubs improves soil fertility and biologically controls striga.
SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
This study focussed on Katuk-Odeyo and Chebitit, an extreme environmental "hot spot" in the Asawo and Awach sub-basins of the Nyando river basin. The study area is inhabited by two ethnic groups, the Luo and the Kalenjin who inhabit the lower and upper parts of the basin respectively. It is ravaged by severe gully erosion and ravines, which develop into badlands - arid and barren landscapes characterized by erosion of the soft surface strata Figures (10a as 10b). The study was complemented by: 1) an environmental accounting of the costs of land degradation; 2) a detailed GPS survey to accurately delineate the basin and the massive Katuk-Odeyo gulley; 3) an analysis of runoff and erosion induced by different land uses; and 4) an economic analysis of the costs of land degradation.
The study drew on a variety of secondary information on the area, including catchment maps and PRA (participatory rural appraisal) reports by the National Soil and Water Conservation Programme, among other sources. Research was conducted using participatory monitoring tools which included mapping exercises, extensive transect walks, historical trend lines, historical resource analysis, resource flow maps, institutional analysis, focus and key information discussions, and informal discussion sessions with groups and individuals.
The results showed the similarities and contrasts between the two groups. While both communities are polygamous, male-headed poly-gamous households among the Luo are more than double those of the Kalenjin (17% and 8% respectively for the Luo and Kalenjin). Clan affiliation is of great importance among the Luo, but less important to the Kalenjin. In both communities, religious institutions play strong developmental roles and common-use areas such as cattle dips, schools, gullies and riverine strips are located on individually-registered land, a disincentive for community rehabilitation and maintenance. It is mostly the Luos who lease land from the Kalenjin for crops and grazing. Again, leased lands are badly degraded since tenants have no incentive to invest in soil conservation for land they do not own, and there are no strict rules governing the use of leased land. While there are several external government and non-government development agencies active in Katuk-Odeyo, their activities are neither coordinated nor collaborative. Residents feel that most of these agencies "ignore the people". For effective action, agencies should work in concert and be sensitive to pre-existing social dynamics when planning and implementing projects (Onyango 2002).
Outcomes
Viability and impacts of farm-level interventions
DESIGNING OPTIONS AND ENHANCING LINKAGES WITH DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
At the outcome level, we have achieved the following: visible land management changes in some communities in the lake basin, human and institutional capacity-building of national collaborators, and improved science-based programme and policy design.
COMMUNITY INTERVENTIONS
Trials with improved fallow and striga control have been conducted with 130 farmers in different parts of the Nyando basin. The results of these trials have illustrated that there is a greater range of viable land use options in the highland parts of the basin than in the lakeshore areas. In the highland areas, many farmers are planting improved fallows and extension workers are encouraging farmers to experiment with the fallows. In the lakeshore areas, on the other hand, researchers and farmers have observed highly variable results, with the best trials generating 2-3 times higher crop yields than control plots. More trials with the most promising options need to be conducted.
FIGURE 10a The Katuk-Odeyo gully, the road to nowhere and a dwelling on the edge. The gully 'basin' has a surface area of approximately 20 km2. For a sense of scale on the gully's size, see the woman in the middle of the picture standing at the gully's edge. The two men to the right are slightly further out. The road next to the two men has been cut off by the gully. The house in the top left corner is precariously close to the gully.
FIGURE 10b A firewood-gathering party make their way home during the rainy season. Rainwater at Katuk-Odeyo is both a resource and a liability. The gully progressively eats into the land at Katuk-Odeyo (see left), forcing the Luo to lease grazing and cropping land from the Kalenjin in the upper part of the catchment. With no strict rules and insecure land tenure, leasing leads to land degradation in the upper catchment as well.
Visible land management outcomes include the formation of 147 self-organized common interest groups in 10 ICRAF-NALEP focal areas undertaking activities in agroforestry, crop diversification, water management, livestock and fodder improvement, marketing, and soil fertility enhancement. Thus far, there are over 2 244 active group members, and the numbers of members and groups are growing. There has also been large-scale mobilization of community members for collective management of springs, constructing or desilting water pans, and for managing water harvesting systems.
So far, 26 PRAs have been conducted, and extension staff in six districts have been trained in PM&E. This participatory approach enables communities to establish their own performance indicators for self-monitoring. Nandi and Siaya Districts have already established these indicators.
Based on the findings of PRAs, farmers were encouraged to form common interest groups (CIGs) based on social dynamics to meet a shared need or resolve a common problem. New approaches were developed and tested for the formation of Focal Area Development Committees (FADCs) and CIGs. After several of the FADCs elected at barazas (village public meetings convened by local administration) failed to perform across two ethnic groups (Luo and Kalenjin), a new method was developed in which small sub-clan-based groups are formed around common interests, then federated together to form FADCs.
Several of the common interest groups were formed on the basis of the initial interests of one or two community members, who then attracted additional members. But the groups sometimes go beyond individual interests: in Katuk-Odeyo, an umbrella committee was formed to link people living in different parts of the basin from two ethnic groups, sharing a common understanding of the cause-effect relationships at various points in the watershed.
SCALING UP FOR BROAD IMPACT
A new method of characterizing soil degradation status using spectral analysis has been developed. The method will enable very cost-effective wide-scale assessment of land degradation problems.
Modelling and remote sensing techniques are used to assess vegetative cover and land degradation measures at strategic locations in the Nyando Basin. A socioeconomic and agricultural productivity baseline survey was also undertaken at nine sites in three different topographical locations in the watershed. The data include community, household, and plot level impact indicators, covering farmer practices, productivity, assets, and other livelihood impacts.
Capacity-building efforts have targeted staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and Survey of Kenya, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students from within and outside Kenya (18 so far). Areas of training have included GIS tools, analysis of remote sensing data, participatory monitoring and evaluation, agroforestry, sampling, measurement, analytical methods for environmental impact assessment, and analysis of marketing opportunities for tree products.
Thirty NALEP staff in Nyando District were trained in agroforestry while 20 staff in six of the seven project districts have been trained in PM&E. This will enable the extension staff to monitor and evaluate progress against targets set in the community action plans (CAPs) and farm-specific action plans (FSAPs). Seven NALEP staff from all the project districts are undergoing field-based modular GIS training, and have each been issued with hand-held GPS units for their fieldwork. ICRAF provides laboratory facilities and technical backstopping for the trainees. Eight Survey of Kenya staff have also been trained in laboratory-based GIS, modelling and remote sensing analysis.
Next steps
The project will continue to develop tangible solutions to the problems in a small number of strategically selected sites in Kenya. Within Kenya, identification of problem hotspots and fundamental causes will continue in other important river basins. These two efforts will enable institutional, policy, and technological innovations to be scaled out and up where appropriate.
In the meantime, collaborative work will begin in priority sites in Uganda and Tanzania subject to availability of funding. The first steps have been completed - coarse basin-level characterization for priority-setting and identifying key stakeholders/partners to help prioritize the types of areas in which such an INRM project can provide the greatest value added. Thus far, the project has focused on the Kenyan portion of the Lake Victoria basin. Later in 2003, we hope to extend our work into the eastern Tanzania portion of the basin and into the Lake Kyoga basin in Uganda.
Challenges
Lake Victoria and its basin pose a challenge appreciated in national and regional political arenas. In the words of Jakaya Kikwete, the Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation: "The problems, challenges and opportunities posed by the lake are today of such magnitude that they cannot be faced by the riparian states acting separately. Our challenge is to contribute to the development of a collective approach to roll back the environmental threat that hangs over the Lake, and unlock the vast potential of the lake for the benefit of the people of the region."
The Lake Victoria Development Programme was established in mid-1999 by the East African Community (EAC) for the sustainable development of the lake basin. The Committee on the Lake Victoria Development Programme is composed of the permanent secretaries of partner states responsible for lake basin issues. The committee's brief is to develop a regional mechanism for the management of the lake and its resources-a cross-sectoral and transnational issue with the challenges that these bring. Substantial donor support will be required to assist East Africa in sustainable development, and to ably address existing problems in the lake region. The EAC is cultivating strategic partnerships with donors to achieve this goal. In March 2000, Sweden made a ten-year commitment to support sustainable development in the lake region.
Political recognition of the Lake's problems and potential has resulted in a concerted effort by the East African States to set up a secretariat to coordinate and address cross-sectoral and transboundary issues such as harmonizing laws and regulations, mapping pollution sources, and promoting sustainable development. In Kenya, we are collaborating with the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA). NEMA is the principal government instrument in the implementation of all policy relating to good environmental supervision and management.
Information and knowledge are often the most limiting factors in watershed and basin management (Swallow et al. 2002b). Information brokers (research organizations, universities) can assist in providing all stakeholders with the necessary information for making decisions on issues that affect their lives, farm enterprises and communities. Better information skills may also assist negotiation to manage or solve conflicts among stakeholders with competing interests. Research organizations like ICRAF can play key roles in providing both information and training especially to governmental and non-governmental organizations.
A major challenge for policy makers is their limited understanding of the filter functions of vegetation in the landscape. For example, the vital role of wetlands in the Lake Basin, as a major source of income for local communities and as a filter for sediments, is traditionally under-valued by governments (Ong and Orego 2002). Therefore, it is common for policy makers to declare state ownership of wetlands and riparian forests. Consequently, plans are still being formulated to convert critical wetlands for agricultural uses. Another challenge is the misconception of the strong link between the ecological concept of lateral flows and deforestation. For example, the Mara River basin, which straddles Kenya and Tanzania, is critical to the survival of pastoral people, farmers and fishermen, and controls the world s largest migration of wildlife in the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem.
References
Bullock, A., Keya, S.O., Muthuri F.M., Baily-Watts, Williams R. and Waughray, D. (1995). Lake Victoria Environmental Management Programme Task Force 2. Final report by regional consultants on Tasks 11, 16 and 17 (Water quality, land use and wetlands) Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK, and FAO, Rome, Italy.
Izac, A.M.N. and Sanchez, P.A. (2001). Towards a natural resource management paradigm for international agriculture: the example of agroforestry research. Agicultural Systems 69:5-25.
Omuto, C. T. (2003). Rapid mapping of hydraulic conductivity in a tropical watershed. MSc (Agricultural Engineering) thesis. University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Ong, C.K. and Orego, F. (2002). Links between land management, sedimentation, nutrient flows and smallholder irrigation in the Lake Victoria Basin. In The Changing Face of Irrigation in Kenya: Opportunities for anticipating change in Eastern and Southern Africa. Eds. H.G. Blank, C.M. Mutero and H. Murray-Rust. IWMI. pp. 135-154.
Onyango, L. A. (2002). Rural women s participation in agroforestry and its implications on a sustainable environment in Nyando District, Kenya. MA (Planning) thesis, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Scheren, P.A.G.M. (1995). A systematic approach to lake water pollution assessment: water pollution in Lake Victoria, East Africa. Eindhoven University of Technology. pp. 71.
Shepherd, K.D. and Walsh, M. (2002). Development of reflectance spectral libraries for characterization of soil properties. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66(3): 988 998.
Shepherd, K.D. and Markus, G.W. (2000). Sensing soil quality: the evidence from Africa: N atural Resource Problems, Priorities and Policies Programme Working Paper 2000-1. ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya.
Shepherd, K.D. and Markus, G.W. (2001). Light reflectance provides rapid assessment of soil quality. Natural Resource Problems, Priorities and Policies Programme Working Paper 2001-1. ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya.
Soule, MJ. and Shepherd, K.D. (2000). An ecological and economic analysis of phosphorous replenishment for Vihiga Division, Western Kenya. Agricultural Systems 64:83 98.
Swallow, B. M., Johnson, N. and Meinzen-Dick, R. (2001). Editorial: Working with people for watershed management. Water Policy 3 (6): 449 455. Paper also presented at the Technical Workshop on Watershed management Institutions, System-wide Programme on Collective Action and Property rights (CAPRi), Managua, Nicaragua, March 13 16, 2000.
Swallow, B.M., Walsh, D.N., Muriithi, S., Noordin, O., Ong, C., Shepherd, K., Place, F., Awiti, A., Hai, M., Ochieng, O., Cohen, M., Mugo, F., Oyasi, S., Omuto, C., Cohen, L. and Okono, A. (2002a). Improved Land Management at the Lake Victoria Basin: Annual Technical Report, July 2001 to June 2002. Natural Resource Problems, Priorities and Policies Programme Working Paper 2002-2. ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya.
Swallow, B. M., Van Noordwijk, M. and Garrity, D.P. (2002b). The effects of scales, flows and filters on property rights and collective action in watershed management. Water Policy 6(3): 457-474.
