$3m to save Mara Basin, vanishing new wonder of the world

Fresh efforts have been launched to save East Africa’s New Wonder of the World — the Mara River Basin ecosystem — from environmental degradation.

A three-year funding agreement between the East African Community and the United States Agency for International Development is expected to ensure that the Mara River Basin is brought under sound management.

The $3 million grant, provided under USAid Africa’s Trans-boundary Water for Biodiversity in the Mara River Basin initiative, will be channelled through the Lake Victoria Basin Commission.
It was signed two weeks ago.

Under the agreement, EAC’s Lake Victoria Basin Commission is expected to implement the Mara River Basin’s 2009 Biodiversity Action Plan adopted recently by EAC ministers.

The plan is aimed at addressing threats to biodiversity hotspots in the Mara River Basin and identifying the best way to manage such habitats.

Being cross-border in nature, the project’s implementation will involve Kenyan and Tanzanian government agencies.

To facilitate cross-boundary management of natural resources in the Mara basin, the programme has brought together forestry, water, wildlife and agricultural sectors for dialogue and action.

With headwaters in the Mau Forest, the Mara basin watershed extends from Kenya to northern Tanzania, encompassing Serengeti National Park and the Masai Mara Game Reserve.

The Mara River Basin also makes up part of the eastern rim of the larger Lake Victoria basin.

Wildlife anchors Kenyan and Tanzanian tourism.

It relies on the healthy functioning of the two countries’ uniquely integrated and rich ecosystem. The survival of this ecosystem depends on the flow of the Mara River.

Experts warn that the Mara River’s diminishing water resources are a major threat to the ecosystem.

With less water flowing in the Mara, there will, certainly, be less to drink for wildlife and pastoral communities.

This has significantly increased the potential for conflict. And it has lowered the economic returns of tourist related activities.

At the signing ceremony, EAC Deputy Secretary-General in charge of Finance and Administration, Julius Rotich, stressed the importance of the Mara River Basin ecosystem.

Commonly referred to as a New Wonder of the World, USAid’s support will help reverse negative environmental trends in the basin, said Dr Rotich.

He said the intervention on the Mara River Basin is timely, since environmental issues, in particular global climate change, are affecting all people.

“You don’t have to spend a lot of time trying to convince people about the environmental devastation that is being experienced. Rains are failing, rivers are drying up or getting polluted. We have all contributed to environmental degradation. And now we must do something about it,” he said.

USAid’s acting African regional director, Larry Meserve, said livelihoods in Kenya and Tanzania would be affected severely unless East Africans put in place structures and measures to manage their watershed ecosystems.

He said the funding agreement on the protection of the Mara was an expression of USAid’s and international partners’ commitment to strengthen African regional organisations in addressing development challenges.

In 2003, East African Community partner states signed a protocol on Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria Basin.

With its headquarters in Kisumu, the Lake Victoria Basin Commission was established in 2005 as a specialised institution of the EAC responsible for co-ordinating the development of the basin.