Kenya pushing for three of its lakes to join the World Heritage Site list

The three are part of a system of lakes in the Eastern Rift Valley system that have a unique volcanic landscape, and share a common geological history, and associated ecological features.

Their heated geothermal waters contribute to the lake waters and result in unique aquatic habitats that supports unique assemblages of flora and fauna.

The current nomination of the Kenya Lakes System within the Great Rift Valley comprises three lakes that are ecologically, geologically and hydrologically inter-linked, and have a combined total core area of 32,034 hectares.

This includes the area covered by the water bodies of the three lakes, the riparian area of Lake Elementaita and the area covered by Lake Nakuru National Park and Lake Bogoria National Reserve.

Except for Bogoria, which has a maximum water depth of 13 metres, both Elementaita and Nakuru are shallow lakes with the deepest parts being 1.5 and three metres respectively; thus, environmentally-degrading human activities could lead to their drying up.

The Kenya Lakes System is not only geologically and hydrologically connected, but shares similar ecological zones, is an international bird area and is a key area of waterfowl of global importance, as well as Ramsar sites.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is an inter-governmental treaty that provides the framework for national and international co-operation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

The treaty was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.

The museum and other stakeholders are confident that the three lakes will make it to the World Heritage List and earn the prestige and global significance they deserve, because the Kenya Lakes System combines geological and biological processes of exceptional natural beauty that is unmatched globally.

The three lakes are outstanding examples representing ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of saline lake ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.

Bird migration is a historical, biological and ecological process that represents adaptation of birds to seasonal changes in the environment as well as breeding cycles.

Breeding attempts by the Lesser Flamingos have been recorded in the three lakes although they are known to breed in Lake Natron in Tanzania.

The systematic annual and seasonal migration processes provide scientists with an evolutionary window to understand the evolution of adaptations by species for survival under extreme and variable environments.

The East African flamingo populations fly within the Rift Valley lakes in Kenya and Tanzania, breeding and feeding.

Lake Elementaita is a key breeding site of the Great White Pelican population.