High urban growth rates endanger Lake Victoria
Aug 12, 2007
LAKE Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world, faces immense pressure from urban centres on its shores, an official of the United Nations-HABITAT has said.
By David Muwanga
LAKE Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world, faces immense pressure from urban centres on its shores, an official of the United Nations-HABITAT has said.
“Urban centres extract resources and dispose of their waste in the waters.
These human activities are the greatest danger to the lake,†said Cecilia Kinuthia.
Kinuthia was speaking at a conference in Munyonyo recently.
She said the catchments of the rivers leading to the lake have been cultivated and left bare, which makes rivers to carry a lot of silt into the lake.
“These urban areas are characterised by concentration of human settlements with no proper services like waste management and drainage systems. Water and sanitation are also lacking or not functioning as they should,†Kinuthia said.
“The combination of all these have led to squalid environmental conditions with the recipient being the lake.â€
She said Africa’s population is increasing at above 3%, adding that 2015 over 40% of the population will be living in urban areas.
“What is more, by 2030 our projection show that Africa will cease to be a rural continent as over 50% of the population would have moved to urban areas and condemned to slums and shanties,†Kinuthia said.
LAKE Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world, faces immense pressure from urban centres on its shores, an official of the United Nations-HABITAT has said.
“Urban centres extract resources and dispose of their waste in the waters.
These human activities are the greatest danger to the lake,†said Cecilia Kinuthia.
Kinuthia was speaking at a conference in Munyonyo recently.
She said the catchments of the rivers leading to the lake have been cultivated and left bare, which makes rivers to carry a lot of silt into the lake.
“These urban areas are characterised by concentration of human settlements with no proper services like waste management and drainage systems. Water and sanitation are also lacking or not functioning as they should,†Kinuthia said.
“The combination of all these have led to squalid environmental conditions with the recipient being the lake.â€
She said Africa’s population is increasing at above 3%, adding that 2015 over 40% of the population will be living in urban areas.
“What is more, by 2030 our projection show that Africa will cease to be a rural continent as over 50% of the population would have moved to urban areas and condemned to slums and shanties,†Kinuthia said.