East Africa rallies to rescue L. Victoria as pollution, climate change threaten millions

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East African leaders, scientists and development partners meeting on the shores of Lake Victoria for three days have issued a stark warning about the future of Africa’s largest freshwater lake, saying years of pollution, environmental degradation and climate shocks are pushing the vital water body towards crisis.

Despite the concerns, delegates gathered in Mwanza for the inaugural Regional Lake Victoria Day also expressed optimism, arguing that stronger regional cooperation and long-term investment could still reverse the decline of a lake that sustains more than 55 million people across East Africa.

The high-level summit brought together officials from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan under the theme "Shared Waters, Shared Future: Uniting for a Sustainable Lake Victoria Basin.”

Many speakers said Lake Victoria’s challenges can no longer be addressed by individual countries acting independently.

“Lake Victoria is too important to East Africa’s future to be managed through fragmented, short-term, and underfunded interventions,” Uganda’s permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Alfred Okot Okidi, told delegates during the Development Partners Round Table on Tuesday.

“It requires a coordinated, long-term, and investment-ready regional program anchored in strong regional institutions and sustained partnerships,” he added.

Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest freshwater lake and the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America. Covering about 68,800 square kilometres, the lake is shared between Tanzania, which controls approximately 51 per cent of its surface area, Uganda with about 43 per cent, and Kenya with nearly 6 per cent.

The lake is also the principal source of the White Nile and remains one of the continent’s most important economic and ecological systems, supporting millions of people through fishing, transport, agriculture, trade, tourism and hydropower generation.

Its waters support fishing, transport, agriculture, hydropower generation, tourism and trade across the region. More than 200,000 fishers depend directly on the lake, while major cities such as Kampala, Kisumu and Mwanza rely on it for water and commerce. However, delegates painted a picture of a lake under mounting pressure.

Pollution

Among the biggest concerns raised at the summit was deteriorating water quality.

According to Okidi, rapid urban growth around the lake has outpaced investment in sanitation and wastewater treatment infrastructure.

“It is estimated that more than 70% of wastewater generated within the basin is discharged into the environment untreated or only partially treated,” he said.

That untreated waste, combined with industrial discharge, agricultural runoff and plastic pollution, is fuelling eutrophication, a process in which excess nutrients trigger massive algal blooms that deplete oxygen levels and suffocate aquatic life.

Environmental experts said sections of the lake have increasingly become vulnerable to oxygen depletion, declining fish populations and contamination from heavy metals and untreated sewage.

Water hyacinth, the invasive weed that periodically blankets parts of the lake, continues to disrupt fishing and water transport while signalling deeper ecological imbalance.

Tanzania’s deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water, Rose Zachary Ambrose, described Lake Victoria as a lifeline whose survival affects the entire region.

“Lake Victoria is not only the largest freshwater lake in Africa, but also the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area,” she said in her opening remarks.

However, she warned that pollution, illegal fishing, deforestation, invasive species and rapid population growth were threatening the lake’s sustainability.

“No single country or institution can effectively address these concerns alone. These challenges require collective responsibility, stronger partnerships, and coordinated regional interventions,” she said.

Climate change

Climate change emerged repeatedly during the discussions, particularly the memory of the devastating 2021 floods that affected communities around the lake.

During that period, Lake Victoria reached historically high water levels, submerging homes, destroying roads and ports, washing away crops and displacing thousands of people in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Delegates said the floods exposed the region’s weak preparedness for climate-related disasters and highlighted the need for better hydrological monitoring and early warning systems.

The summit also discussed growing concerns over maritime safety on Lake Victoria, one of Africa’s busiest inland waterways.

“Thousands of people are estimated to lose their lives annually to drowning across Lake Victoria and the wider Nile systems,” Okidi said.

He said many accidents on the lake are linked to overcrowded boats, poor weather forecasting and limited rescue infrastructure.

Regional officials welcomed the establishment of the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which is expected to improve emergency response and water safety across the basin.

Technology advancement

One of the most notable announcements during the summit came from the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), which unveiled plans for a major scientific assessment of the lake beginning in 2027.

The project, dubbed the “Lake Victoria 100 Survey”, will revisit the famous Graham survey conducted on the lake nearly a century ago and compare how the ecosystem has changed over time.

Speaking on behalf of LVFO executive secretary Tom Bukusi, deputy executive secretary Lucy Obungu said researchers hoped the survey would generate critical scientific evidence to guide future restoration efforts.

“What are the changes that have happened in this lake since the survey that was done 100 years ago? Can we compare?” Obungu asked delegates.

Unlike earlier studies, she said the new survey would combine scientific research with community experiences and storytelling from people who live around the lake.

The three-year exercise is expected to cost about $5.9m (about sh22.25 billion), with LVFO appealing to development partners for support.

“We want this centenary survey to become a regional flagship model for science-driven ecosystem restoration, inclusive conservation, and transboundary collaboration,” Obungu said.

Huge investment

At the centre of the Mwanza discussions was financing, specifically how East Africa can mobilise the billions of dollars needed to restore and protect the basin.

The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), which coordinates regional cooperation on the lake, argued that current funding remains far below what is needed.

Executive secretary Masinde Bwire said the region must now move “from dialogue to coordinated financing and joint delivery.”

“Regional cooperation is not optional. It is essential,” Bwire said. He added that the commission was prioritising investment-ready programmes focused on wastewater treatment, ecosystem restoration, climate resilience, safe water transport and improved governance.

Delegates heard that existing investments, including support from the World Bank, European Union, KfW, GIZ, AfDB and JICA, have helped improve sanitation systems, environmental monitoring and ecosystem restoration projects around the basin.

However, officials acknowledged that financing remains fragmented and often short-term.

Okidi urged development partners to support predictable long-term funding for regional institutions such as LVBC, warning that weak coordination could undermine progress.

“Financing LVBC is not merely an administrative cost. It is an investment in regional stability, water security, food security, climate resilience, and shared prosperity,” he said.

For communities whose livelihoods depend on the lake, the stakes could hardly be higher.

According to Okidi, once all countries come together, Lake Victoria will remain not only a shared resource but also “a shared springboard for regional unity, resilience, and prosperity for generations to come.”