Jan

30

2008
 
 

Time to wake up



Is the writing on the wall for Lake Victoria’s papyrus?

Going fishing... but for how long?“Darwin’s nightmare” continues at Lake Victoria, according to a report published in Wetlands Ecology and Management. Tanzania National Parks ecologist Yustina Andrew Kiwango and collaborator Eric Wolanski studied the effects the lake’s twin hydroelectric dams – Nalubaale and Kiira – are having on its ecosystem, and as you’d expect things don’t look good. The lack of coordination between the two dams mean that together they draw off too much water, exposing the vulnerable peat wetlands that fringe the lake. These wetlands are swathed in papyrus, which plays two vital ecological roles. It provides juvenile tilapia with safe refuge — until they’re big enough to be caught by the artisan fishermen whose livelihoods depend on them — and draws nutrients out of the severely eutrophicated water. Losing the papyrus would be disastrous for the lake’s inhabitants, including the million or so humans cramped around its shores. Sustainably harvesting it, however, could prove a neat way to clean its polluted waters, Kiwango and Wolanski suggest. Source: Kiwango YA & Wolanski E (2008) Papyrus wetlands, nutrients balance, fisheries collapse, food security, and Lake Victoria level decline in 2000–2006. Wetlands Ecology and Management DOI: 10.1007/s11273-007-9072-4

Image © Frank van den Bergh

Filed Under Climate change, Endangered species, Habitat, Invasive species, Restoration, Fresh water, Monitoring, Economics and conservation, Community-based conservation, Socio-political issues | 

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