PROPOSAL FOR REVIEW

PROJECT TITLE: LAKE VICTORIA ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

GEF FOCAL AREA: International Waters

COUNTRY ELIGIBILITY: Under 9(b) of the Instrument

TOTAL PROJECT COSTS: US$77.81 million

GEF FINANCING: US$35 million

GOVERNMENT COUNTERPART FINANCING
OF GEF COMPONENTS: US$7.8 million

COFINANCING: IDA US$35 million

ASSOCIATED PROJECT: Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project

GEF IMPLEMENTING AGENCY: World Bank

EXECUTING AGENCY: Governments of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda

LOCAL COUNTERPART AGENCY: Ministries of Environment and Natural Resources

ESTIMATED STARTING DATE
(EFFECTIVENESS): October 1, 1996

PROJECT DURATION: Five Years

GEF PREPARATION COSTS: PPA US$1.8 million

LAKE VICTORIA ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

LAKE VICTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDS

Physical Description and Setting

1. Lake Victoria, with a surface area of 68,800 km2 and an adjoining catchment of 184,000 km2, is the world's second largest body of fresh water, and the largest in the developing world, second only to Lake Superior in size. Lake Victoria touches the Equator in its northern reaches, and is relatively shallow, reaching a maximum depth of about 80 m, and an average depth of about 40 m. The lake's shoreline is long (about 3,500 km) and convoluted, enclosing innumerable small, shallow bays and inlets, many of which include swamps and wetlands which differ a great deal from one another and from the lake itself. Because the lake is shallow, its volume is substantially less than that of other Eastern African lakes with much smaller surface area. Lake Victoria holds about 2,760 km3 of water, only 15 percent of the volume of Lake Tanganyika, even though the latter has less than half the surface area.

2. Some 85 percent of the water entering the lake does so from precipitation directly on to the lake surface, the remainder coming from rivers which drain the surrounding catchment. The most significant of these rivers, the Kagera, contributes roughly 7 percent of the total inflow, or one half of that over and above direct precipitation. The Kagera River, which rises in the highlands of Burundi and Rwanda, forms the border between Rwanda and Tanzania before turning to the east, and flows for at least 150 km completely in Tanzanian territory. It discharges into the lake just north of the border between Tanzania and Uganda . Some 85 percent of the water leaving the lake does so through direct evaporation from its surface, and the remaining 15 percent largely by way of the Victoria Nile, which leaves the lake near Jinja in Uganda, and flows via the Owen Falls, Lake Kioga, and the Murchison Falls to join the outflow from Lake Albert; these two outflows are the main sources of the "White Nile".

3. The lake's origins are still the subject of scientific dispute, but it seems likely that it is much more recent than the other great lakes of eastern Africa. Many of the rivers now flowing east into Victoria (including Kagera) once flowed west, at least in the Miocene, Pliocene, and part of the Pleistocene eras (within the past 2 million years), possibly eventually into the Nile system, and a more recent upthrust of the western side of the basin is thought to have reversed these rivers, and caused LakeVictoria to form by flowing eastwards. It is possible that the lake could have formed as recently as 25,000 to 35,000 years ago, and recent evidence suggests it may have dried up completely between 10,000 and 14,000 years ago.

Biological and Environmental Significance

4. Although there are many features of Lake Victoria which are of intense interest to biologists, it is fish that receive the most attention. Most of the fish species now in the lake also lived in the preceding, west-flowing rivers, but the cichlids, in particular, had a remarkable burst of speciation in response to the change from river to lake conditions. Similar things happened in the other great lakes, but in Lake Victoria it happened much more recently, more rapidly, and with, at first sight, less opportunities for ecological isolation in different types of habitat. The cichlids are capable of rapid genetic change, and more prone to speciation than other groups of African fish. There are more than 200 endemic species and 4 endemic genera of cichlids in Lake Victoria, more than 150 species of which are of the genus Haplochromis. Another major lineage is the tilapiines. From the primitive insect-eating types, mouths and pharynxes have evolved to allow feeding on plants, molluscs, fish, and even the eggs and young larvae carried in the mouths of brooding females of most cichlid species.

5. The non-cichlid fishes have also changed, and there are at least 50 species, of which 29 are endemic, and one endemic genus. The non-cichlids show much less divergence from the riverine stock than is the case with non-cichlid fish in Lake Tanganyika, which has had a much longer time for them to diversify. While most of the species remain year round in the lake, there are a number (at least 13 species) of anadromous (ascending) fish, especially cyprinids, characids and siluroids, which swim up the rivers when they are in flood, breed in a suitable place, and return with their young fish to the lake as the level drops.

Economic Significance

6. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda control 6, 49, and 45 percent of the lake surface, respectively. The gross economic product of the lake catchment is in the order of US$3-4 billion annually, and supports an estimated population of 25 million people at incomes in the range of US$90-270 per capita p.a. The lake catchment thus provides for the livelihood of about one third of the combined populations of the three countries, and about the same proportion of the combined gross domestic product. With the exception of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, the lake catchment economy is principally an agricultural one, with a number of cash crops (including exports of fish) and a high level of subsistence fishing and agriculture. In Kenya and Uganda the areas of coffee and tea in the catchment are a significant part of those nations' major agricultural imports. The quality of the physical environment is therefore a fundamental factor in maintaining and increasing the living standards of the growing population. Although it is not possible to put a single estimate to the global value of the lake in sustaining the regional economy, it can be seen that if the deterioration of the lake resulted in a (say) 5 percent reduction in productivity of the region, the consequent loss would be of the order of US$150 million annually.

MAJOR THREATS TO THE LAKE

7. The lake basin is used as a source of food, energy, drinking and irrigation water, shelter, transport, and as a repository for human, agricultural and industrial waste. With the populations of the riparian communities growing at rates among the highest in the world, the multiple activities in the lake basin have increasingly come into conflict. This has contributed to rendering the lake environmentally unstable. The lake ecosystem has undergone substantial, and to some observers alarming changes, which have accelerated over the last three decades. Massive blooms of algae have developed, and come increasingly to be dominated by the potentially toxic blue-green variety. The distance at which a white disc is visible from the surface, (a transparency index measuring algal abundance), has declined from 5 metres in the early 1930s to one metre or less for most of the year in the early 1990s. Water-borne diseases have increased in frequency. Water hyacinth, absent as late as 1989, has begun to choke important waterways and landings, especially in Uganda. Overfishing and oxygen depletion at lower depths of the lake threaten the artisanal fisheries and biodiversity (over 200 indigenous species are said to be facing possible extinction). Scientists advance two main hypotheses for these extensive changes. First, the introduction of Nile perch as an exotic species some 30 years ago has altered the food web structure; second, nutrient inputs from adjoining catchments are causing eutrophication. Thus although the lake and its fishery show the evidence of the dramatic changes in the lake basin over the past century, the lake is not the source of the problem. The problems have arisen in the surrounding basins through human activity.

Lake Biota and Fisheries

8. One of the main events of importance to the lake system in the past thirty years was the introduction of new species of fish in the lake. The first were four species of tilapia (Cichlidae), which were introduced in the early 1950s. In 1955 the Nile Perch Lates niloticus (Centropomidae) was introduced into Lake Kioga, and when a few years later it was found in Lake Victoria, steps were taken to ensure its establishment there. Until 1978, Nile Perch remained a very small proportion of the commercial catch, less than 5 percent. Then in 1978 a very rapid expansion of the proportion accounted for by Nile Perch took place, with the result that by 1990 the commercial catch had a totally different composition, dominated by Nile Perch (almost 60 percent) and Omena (most of the remaining 40 percent). The haplochromines, and the mixture of other fish had virtually vanished from the commercial catch.

9. It is important to note that the size of the fishery also exploded from 1978 on, perhaps by a factor of five or more. From Kenyan waters alone the recorded catch climbed from around 25,000 tons in 1978 to more than 175,000 tons in 1990. In the years preceding introduction of the Nile Perch, the total fisheries yield from the lake may have been in the vicinity of 100,000 tons, while in more recent years yields have been estimated in the range of 300,000 to 500,000 tons.

Water Hyacinth

10. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a flowering plant, whose origin is thought to be the Amazon areas of Brazil. It appeared in Lake Naivasha in Kenya in 1982, and in Lake Kioga in Uganda in 1988. In Tanzania, it was first reported in 1990. Its first recorded appearance in Lake Victoria was in Ugandan waters in 1988. Since then it has been reported in many locations, all around the lake, in the waters of all three riparian countries. It is especially concentrated in Ugandan waters, possibly because the prevailing southerly winds blow mats of the weed all the way from the mouth of the Kagera River, down which the mats flow from lakes far up in the catchments in Rwanda and Burundi. The hyacinth also flourishes in nutrient-rich waters, as those along the Uganda shoreline of the lake are believed to be. The area between Entebbe and the Uganda/Kenya border has widespread floating mats of water hyacinth, some of which reach more than 1,000 ha in size.

11. The main detrimental effects of the spreading mats of water hyacinth are as follows:

  1. reduction in fish in the lake through de-oxygenation of water and reduction of nutrients in sheltered bays which are breeding and nursery grounds for fish, particularly tilapia;
  2. physical interference with fishing operations, especially in the bays where fish are brought ashore to piers or landing beaches;
  3. physical interference with commercial transportation services for people and goods on the lake;
  4. physical interference with access to water supply from the lake, for both urban and rural communities, together with additions to the cost of purifying water with higher concentrations of suspended, decaying organic matter as a result of the hyacinth presence;
  5. threats to the intakes at the Owen Falls hydroelectric power station in Uganda; and
  6. provision of a preferred breeding habitat for the alternative host for Schistosomiasis (bilharzia), namely the Biomphalaria snail, a home for the vector mosquito for malaria, and a haven for snakes.

Eutrophication

12. Water quality in Lake Victoria has declined greatly in the past few decades, owing chiefly to eutrophication arising from increased inflow of nutrients into the lake. Nutrient inputs have increased two to three-fold since the turn of the century, mostly since 1950. Concentrations of phosphorus have risen markedly in the deeper lake waters, and nitrogen around the edges. Stimulated by these and other nutrients, the five-fold increase in algal growth since 1960, and the shift in its composition towards domination by blue-green algae, is causing deoxygenation of the water, increased sickness for humans and animals drawing water from the lake, clogging of water intake filters, and increased chemical treatment costs for urban centers. Aside from the near-total loss of the deepwater species, the deoxygenation of the lake's bottom waters now poses a constant threat, even to fish in shallower portions of the lake, as periodic upwelling of hypoxic water causes massive fish kills. The increased nutrient loads have also spurred the water hyacinth infestations.

13. The nutrients represent a transfer of materials at an increasing rate from the terrestial basin to the lake. Among others, these transfers comprise organic and inorganic suspended solids and dissolved nutrients carried by streams, terrestrial dust from wind erosion, inorganic compounds in the smoke produced by combustion (in cooking fires or forest burning), and direct additions along the lake shores of human and animal waste associated with domestic water use. Preliminary estimates suggest the increased nutrient inflows are coming largely from rural areas, but although the main causes of the eutrophication are known, the rates of enrichment, its sources, and its numerous effects are not well quantified. Since many of the farms in the area apply no fertilizers, or use very small quantities, these are not likely to be a major source of the nutrients, nor will they be until fertilizer application rates reach substantially higher levels than currently seen. Rather, the nutrients may be released from soil particles washed or blown off the land surface by erosion, from burning wood-fuels, and from human and animal waste from areas surrounding the lake. From the urban areas, the main source is untreated sewage, which beside providing additional nutrients, also increases the disease risk from water borne pathogens. Thus the water quality problems of the lake arise in the watershed, not in the lake, and it is in the catchment that the solutions must be found.

Water Pollution

14. Some areas of the rivers feeding the lake and the shoreline are particularly polluted by municipal and industrial discharges. Some information has been collected by local and national authorities on the scale and location of polluting industries, and there are a number of basic industries that are common to most of the major urban areas, for example, breweries, tanning, fish processing, agroprocessing (sugar, coffee) and abattoirs. Some of these have implemented pollution management measures but in general the level of industrial pollution control is low. Small scale gold mining is increasing, in Tanzania in particular, and this is leading to some contamination of the local waterways by mercury which is used to amalgamate and recover the gold. Some traces of other heavy metals, such as chromium and lead, are also found in the lake, although the problem has not yet reached major proportions.

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

Project Preparation

15. Attempts at fisheries collaboration among Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are among the oldest on the continent. As early as 1928, it was recommended that a unified lake-wide authority for regulation and for collection of fisheries statistics be set up. Establishment of the East African Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization (EAFFRO) in 1947 solidified collaboration, and it was boosted further with formation of the East African Community in 1967. In the early 1970s, all three countries became members of the FAO Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa (CIFA). After the disappearance of this coordinating mechanism with the ending of the East African Community in 1977, the need for collaboration was felt so strongly that a special CIFA Sub-Committee for Lake Victoria was set up in 1980. Although this was a useful forum for the three countries, the difficulty of implementing management measures on a lake-wide basis due to the lack of a strong inter-governmental mechanism for harmonization of such measures, led to the design of proposals for the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO), whose establishment the current project would support. Most importantly, the current project would, for the first time, ensure that regional fisheries management would operate within a regional framework for environmental action, rather than having only a commercial orientation.

16. Each of the three riparian Governments has prepared a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP). All three NEAPS acknowledge that Lake Victoria demands urgent attention through regional cooperation. The NEAPs focus on problems such as water pollution, biodiversity loss, land degradation, deforestation, and damage to wetlands, all central concerns for the lake and its catchments. Scientists and resource managers have increasingly warned that the absence of a regional management framework may threaten the future viability of the lake basin. Discussions to broaden regional environmental cooperation covering the Lake Victoria Basin started in late 1992. In May 1994 the three Governments decided to enter into an agreement jointly to prepare and implement a Lake Victoria Environmental Management Program. A Tripartite agreement to this effect was signed August 5, 1994. The essential soundness of this agreement has been proven during project preparation, and its main institutional arrangements, which have worked well, will continue into project implementation.

17. The Tripartite Agreement of 1994, as enhanced by the government preparation report, constitutes a framework for action fully responsive to the requirement for a Strategic Action Plan (SAP). This SAP, whose preparation included extensive stakeholder consultation, was reviewed thoroughly during appraisal. It identifies, acknowledges and analyzes the transboundary water-related environmental concerns which the three governments share in common. Furthermore, it expresses their determination jointly to build the capacity of existing institutions, and establish new ones, in order that they may adopt a comprehensive approach to addressing the shared transboundary concerns, and implement measures to deal with the priority concerns as identified, with a particular focus on community stakeholder involvement and measures to raise public awareness.

18. Preparation of the LVEMP took into account ongoing activities funded by the Global Environment Facility under the project Institutional Support for the Protection of East African Biodiversity (UNO/RAF/006/GEF), implemented by FAO and UNDP. The first phase of that project is coming to an end in 1996, just as the LVEMP commences implementation. The latter will build particularly on the wetlands components of the Institutional Support project, through which funds were provided to wetlands programs under the technical oversight of the IUCN (The World Conservation Union). These initiatives have established committees on wetlands in all three riparian countries, which would coordinate wetlands components under the LVEMP.

19. A large number of donors have supported a vast range of development initiatives in and around Lake Victoria. Some of these have addressed priority environmental concerns, but mostly in small, uncoordinated, and incomplete ways, and seldom with informed intentionality which had the wider environmental priorities in mind. In the absence of a coordinated management and information system for the entire lake and its ecosystem, these smaller projects have often fallen short, and continue to fall short, of realizing their maximum potential. Although often successful in their own terms, they could have achieved even more by being part of a coordinated management intitiative to address the lake ecosystem and its problems. The current project is such a management initiative, which will lead to a quantum leap in understanding the ecosystem, and in devising sustainable management strategies.

The Lake Victoria Region in the Future

20. The Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP) will therefore become the heart of the wider investments needed in the lake basin in forthcoming years in direct actions to clean up the lake and its catchment, and manage the ecosystem in a sustainable way. Substantial investments will be needed in direct actions to reduce nutrient inflows from human waste (in both urban and rural areas), to decrease soil erosion, to clean up industrial effluent, and reduce pollution from all sources. The project will provide the information and build the capacity to coordinate the substantial sums likely to be available for financing these direct actions in the next five years and beyond. In the LVEMP itself an estimated 20 percent of project costs will be directed towards studies, 42 percent towards capacity building, and 38 percent towards direct actions (see the following table).

21. A much broader program of investments in direct actions is already shaping up around the LVEMP. It is estimated (following table) that within the next five years, an additional US$60 million in funding from IDA alone will be directed towards actions to improve human sanitation and reduce soil erosion in the lake basin. The bulk of these will take their cues from the early findings of the LVEMP. When these investments are included, the proportion of the program allocated for direct actions increases to around two-thirds. Undoubtedly there will be substantial additional flows from other donors. The LVEMP mid-term update to the analysis of transboundary environmental concerns will guide the second phase of project implementation, and set the stage for subsequent initiatives. The Implementation Completion Report to be prepared by the three governments at the end of the LVEMP will include a revised Strategic Action Program outlining interventions needed to address priority problems. IDA will use this as the basis for seeking commitments to support such interventions from the wider donor community. Thus the LVEMP will be the essential first step in a long-term program for restoring and sustaining the ecological foundations for economic development in the entire lake basin.

22. Furthermore, the LVEMP itself will include a study of potential sources of funding for continuing support of fisheries management, and other collaborative arrangements for sustaining the ecosystem established by the three riparian countries during this first phase. The study will assess possibilities for raising and coordinating levies on the commercial fisheries to enable some of the central monitoring and management initiatives to become fiscally sustainable. The LVEMP includes financial support for establishing a shared Levy Trust Fund among the three countries, should the study show this to be feasible.

Proposed GEF and IDA Investments in the Lake Victoria Region 1996-2000


Project                     Studies  Capacity  Action   Totals    Financing 
                                     Buiding                                

LVEMP Components                                                            
 a. Fisheries Management               2.9                2.9     GEF       
 b. Fisheries Research        5.3      5.3       3.6     14.2     GEF/IDA   
 c. Fisheries                          7.0       7.1     14.1     IDA       
     Extension/Policies/Laws                                                     
 d. Water Hyacinth Control                       8.6      8.6     GEF/IDA   
 e. Water Quality             4.8      4.8                9.6     GEF       
 f. Waste Management          2.0      2.0       5.4      9.4     IDA       
 g. Land Use/Wetlands         3.9      4.7       4.7     13.3     GEF/IDA   
     Management                                                                  
 h. Policy and                         5.7                5.7     GEF/IDA   
     Institutions                                                                
TOTAL LVEMP                  16.0     32.4      29.4     77.8               

Ongoing IDA Projects
 a. Uganda Urban I/Water II                    } 13.0   } 13.0    } IDA/EU  
 b. Tanzania Urban Sector                      }        }         }         
     Rehabilitation
TOTAL ONGOING PROJECTS        0.0      0.0      13.0     13.0               

Proposed IDA Projects                                                       
 a. Kenya Municipal Reform                     } 35.0   } 35.0    } IDA     
 b. Uganda District Reform                     }        }         }         
 c. Kenya Natural Resource                      15.0     15.0     IDA       
     Management                                                                  
TOTAL PROPOSED PROJECTS                         50.0     50.0               

TOTAL LAKE VICTORIA AREA     16.0     32.4      92.4    140.8               
 (%)                         (11)     (23)      (66)    (100)               

Total GEF                                                35.0               
Total IDA                                                95.0               

THE PROJECT

Objectives

23. The LVEMP is a comprehensive program aimed at rehabilitation of the lake ecosystem for the benefit of the people who live in the catchment, the national economies of which they are a part, and the global community. The program objectives are to: (a) maximize the sustainable benefits to riparian communities from using resources within the basin to generate food, employment and income, supply safe water, and sustain a disease free environment; and (b) conserve biodiversity and genetic resources for the benefit of the global community. In order to address the tradeoffs among these objectives which cut across national boundaries, a further project objective is to harmonize national management programs in order to achieve, to the maximum extent possible, the reversal of increasing environmental degradation.

General Description

24. The project is the first phase of a longer term program whose aims are as outlined above. The first phase will provide the necessary information to improve management of the lake ecosystem, establish mechanisms for cooperative management by the three countries, identify and demonstrate practical, self-sustaining remedies, while simultaneously building capacity for ecosystem management. The project will consist of two broad sets of activities. The first set of activities, which are designed to address specific environmental threats, will take place in a series of selected pilot zones. The second set of activities, which will improve information on the lake and build capacity for more effective management, will be of necessity lake-wide in scope.

25. In the pilot zones, the project would do the following in an integrated way: develop groundwater resources; conserve and develop wetlands; reduce sediment and nutrient flow; especially of phosphorus, into the lake; reduce fecal coliform and municipal nutrient output into the lake; regulate industrial effluent; define current contamination of fish and prevent any inrease; stabilize catch of Nile Perch, and increase catch of indigenous species; increase incomes of local fisherfolk; and reduce water hyacinth to manageable levels. A total of fourteen pilot zones have been identified, four in Kenya, and five in each of Tanzania and Uganda. Work would be started in one pilot zone in each country in the first year - Nyakach Bay in Kenya (including the city of Kisumu), Mwanza Gulf in Tanzania (including the city of Mwanza), and Napoleon Bay in Uganda (including the city of Jinja).

26. Among lake-wide actions the project would: assess and measure sources of nutrients causing eutrophication; measure fisheries-trophic state interactions; model and monitor lake circulation; define and measure the contaminant threat; harmonize regulation and legislation; monitor recovery and impact; and build institutional capacity.

27. The project would support the following specific regional and national program activities: (a) management of fisheries, including the establishment and operations of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation [US$2.9 m], improvement of fisheries research and the information base for fisheries [US$14.2 m], and strengthening of extension, monitoring and enforcement capabilities of national fisheries administrations [US$14.1 m]; (b) management of lake pollution and water quality, including strengthening and harmonizing national regulatory and incentive frameworks and enforcement capabilities, and establishing a lake-wide water quality monitoring system [US$9.6 m], improvement of research and the information base for pollution control and water quality [US$4.1 m], pilot investments in industrial and municipal waste management [US$1.3 m], and priority waste management investments [US$4 m]; (c) wetland management, including improving the information base [US$3.8 m], and pilot investments in sustainable management of wetland products [US$1.1 m]; (d) management and control of the water hyacinth infestation [US$8.6 m]; (e) management of land use in the catchment, including improvement of research and the information base for pollution loading from the catchment, assessment of agro-chemicals, and pilot investments in soil conservation and afforestation [US$8.5 m]; and (f) support for policy initiatives, institutions for lake-wide research and management, and pollution disaster contingency planning [US$5.7 m].

Project Details

Fisheries Management [US$2.86 million]

28. A Convention for the Establishment of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), drafted with FAO assistance, was discussed in the three countries in late 1993 and early 1994, and signed by all three countries on 30 June, 1994. The proposed LVFO would be presided over by a Council of Ministers (who would be Ministers responsible for fisheries). It would have an Executive Committee made up of Directors of Fisheries Research, a Fisheries Management Committee, a Scientific Committee, such other sub-committees and working groups as might be needed from time to time, and a Permanent Secretariat located in Entebbe, Uganda. The LVFO would promote better management of fisheries on the lake, coordinate fisheries management with conservation and use of other lake resources, collaborate closely with all existing bodies (public and private, governmental and non-governmental) dealing with the lake, and all programs for its management (especially those relating to water quality), coordinate fisheries extension and related training, consider and advise on introduction of any non-indigenous aquatic animals or plants into the waters of the lake, and disseminate information on Lake Victoria fisheries.

29. The Secretariat, headed by an Executive Secretary (assisted by a Deputy), would have four permanent higher level staff - a Senior Biologist, Senior Economist, Administrative Officer (Finance) and Administrative Officer (Information and Database). It would engage short-term consultants (a total of 50 months over five years) specializing in legal matters, socio-economics, fish processing technology, fish harvesting technology, and water hyacinth control.

Fisheries Research [US$14.21 million]

30. The program for fisheries research aims to provide information on the ecology of the lake and its catchment, the biology of its flora and fauna, the impact of environmental factors on the lake system, and socio-economic implications of use of the lake's resources. This information will contribute towards improved ecological efficiency, greater biodiversity, and ecological balance in the lake system. The research program will be operated with the help and participation of the extension services, fisherfolk community leaders, scientists, Government departments, and other stakeholders.

31. The fisheries research program would have five sub-programs: studies of fish biology and biodiversity conservation, aquaculture, socio-economics, database establishment, and a fish stock assessment. The stock assessment would be financed by the European Union under a separate agreement, and although it is described below to provide a complete outline of the fisheries research program, the LVEMP would ensure only its coordination with other project components.

32. Fish Biology and Biodiversity Conservation [US$6.77 million]. This program would determine diversity in aquatic flora and fauna, document them, educate people on their importance, and propose ways to exploit them sustainably. The program aims to rectify the serious lack of knowledge about the entire aquatic population of the lake, focusing especially on non-commercial fish of great biological interest, their species composition, population structure, food and feeding habits, trophic relationships, reproduction and breeding habits, growth, mortality, and migrations, as well as the other organisms which play key roles in sustaining the Lake Victoria ecosystem, including specifically other aquatic vertebrates (frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals), macroinvertebrates (insects, molluscs, Caridina), microinvertebrates (copepods, cladcerans, rotifers), phytoplankton (diatoms, cyanophytes, green algae), macrophytes, and bacteria. The primary aim of this program is to gain information with which to design initiatives to sustain a complex ecosystem of substantial scientific importance. The outcomes of the studies would be species distribution maps, understanding of the causes of decline of fish species, understanding of the impact of environmental changes on the biology, behaviour and survival of declining species, an updated bibliography of Lake Victoria, training of scientists, and dissemination of information to stakeholders through reports, videos, and workshops.

33. Aquaculture [US$3.56 million]. This program aims at restoring and sustaining the survival of several endangered and threatened species of fish. The program would address the continuing pressures to introduce more fish species into the lake (to take advantage of their production characteristics or market attraction), but would do so by avoiding the unforeseen effects of exotic introductions. The program would study the domestication of indigenous species of high nutritional value. The aim would be to perfect aquaculture methods for such species, to assist them to compete in the market place with exotic tilapiines and carp. The outcomes of the program would be restored populations of selected endangered and threatened species, improved fish supply to local riparian communities, return of delicacies to consumer markets, and development of commercial activity in ornamental species which would secure their survival rather than threatening it as at present.

34. Socio-Economics and Database [US$3.88 million]. The overall aim of this program is to provide information which would be used to improve management of the lake resources in order that local communities could increase their benefits from the fishery. The initial objective would be to analyze and disseminate data from previous and ongoing projects on: (a) small scale fishing and fish commodity systems (financed by IDRC); (b) understanding the socio-economic impacts of changes in the lake fisheries (financed by a private foundation); (c) sustainable management of ecotones (transition areas between adjacent ecological communities) in collaboration with the University of Zurich; and (d) management strategies of fishing communities (financed by the EU).

35. The program would further provide information on current fishery distribution patterns, community involvement in harvesting up to marketing of fish, how activities of fisherfolk contribute to environmental degradation, nutrition, health and other social amenities of lakeside communities, alternative management systems incorporating different stakeholders, the contribution of fisheries to the three national economies, and the consequences of changes in fishing policies. Among other things, the program outputs would include evolution of policies with greater community participation, a larger share for communities in the harvesting and marketing of fish, more fish available in local communities, and better health and social services for these communities. The database program would develop bibliographies and a central clearing house for information about the lake, an electronic communications network, and train librarians and other database managers.

36. Stock Assessment [financed separately by the EU]. The first comprehensive stock assessment survey since 1969/74, and the first since the far-reaching changes believed to have occurrred in the ecology of the lake, this exercise would focus on prime commercial species, and would provide information about the size of the fish stock, distribution and movement patterns, population structure, breeding habits, estimates of potential yield, characteristics of fishing gear, catch rates, description of the lake bottom, and updated bathymetric maps. Among outcomes of the program would be guidelines for fishery conservation, sustainable use, permissible quotas, and proposals for an integrated education program.

Fisheries Extension, Policies, Laws and Their Enforcement [US$14.09 million]

37. The intention in the project is to separate law enforcement and extension activities. The program would include several activities of a policy/legal development and enforcement nature, such as identification and establishment of closed fishing areas (gazetted sanctuaries, often river estuaries, important for fish breeding, nurseries and juvenile feeding), training and empowerment of fisheries law enforcement officers, and establishment of customs posts at selected border landing sites. The extension activities would concentrate especially on introduction of new techniques (such as lift netting and live bait fishing), small scale aquaculture, and promoting organisations of fisherfolk which would guard fisheries against illegal entry and gear thefts, act as channels for improved gear and credit, and assist with overall monitoring of fisheries in the lake. The program would begin in three pilot zones in the first year, and then be evaluated thoroughly before being expanded in subsequent years. The program would also establish one fish quality control laboratory in each country (to carry out testing for microbes, heavy metals, pathogens, pesticides and other contaminants), and would include studies of ways to reduce post-harvest losses of fish through improvements in handling and processing, and strengthening and harmonising data collection in the respective national Fisheries Departments.

Water Hyacinth Control [US$8.59 million]

38. The aim of the program is to establish sustainable long-term capacity for maintaining control of water hyacinth and other invasive weeds in the Lake Victoria Basin. This would be achieved by an integrated effort involving intensified publicity, legislation, and integrated pest management with community involvement. The control program would rely on chemical and mechanical methods for rapid short term control in restricted areas, and biological agents for longer term control. Reducing nutrient inflows into the lake will be a vital element in long term approaches to dealing with the problem. The biological control program would rely initially on release of two weevil species that have been used and found effective world-wide, and have already been imported, reared and released in Kenya and Uganda. The species are the chevroned water hyacinth weevil (Neochetina bruchi Hystache) and the water hyacinth weevil (Neochetina eichorniae Warner). These two species are complementary in their action. The possibilities would be explored for supplementing the weevils by later releases of the moth Sameodes albiguttalis. The main elements of the biological control program would be establishment of mass rearing capacity in units around the shores of the lake as rapidly as possible, a coordinated field release program involving local community participation, monitoring performance of biological control agents in the field, and development of a monitoring and evaluation protocol and training program.

Water Quality and Ecosystem Management [US$9.55 million]

39. This program would provide details of limnological changes, model and predict their short and long term consequences, and provide guidelines for ameliorating potentially disastrous changes. The aim would be to elucidate the nature and dynamics of the lake ecosystem. Among other things, the program would provide quantitative information on nutrient loading and recycling in the lake (particularly the internal loading of sediment phosphorus); sources and mechanics of eutrophication and pollution and their effect on lake productivity (with a particular focus on ways to stabilize or reduce eutrophic status); phytoplankton communities and their composition; algal blooms and their dynamics; lake zooplankton, microbes, benthic flora and fauna, lake fly and their roles; primary production including estimation of lake carrying capacity; stratification of the lake and the increasing problem of anoxia; trophic inter-relationships; and lake palaeolimnology.

40. The program would include one core project, namely Management of Eutrophication [US$6.70 million], two pilot projects, Sedimentation Studies [US$0.74 million] and Hydraulic Conditions in Lake Victoria [US$0.91 million], and construction of a model of water circulation and quality in the lake, designed to help manage the problems. The core project aims to establish periodic assessment of physical and chemical characteristics of the lake system. Among other things it will measure temperatures in different strata, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, factors affecting light penetration such as suspended silt/sedimentation concentrations, water clarity, and spectral characteristics, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels, levels of heavy metals (mercury, chromium and lead), pesticide residues, abundance and species composition of phyto- and zoo-plankton, phytoplankton primary production, levels of B-coli and E-coli. Analysis of these and other data would establish rates of change in water quality, relate these to the observed status of inputs from the catchment, estimate the effects of poor water quality on the economy of the region, and establish the basis for a practicable pollution control program.

41. The pilot sedimentation study would estimate sedimentation rates at the mouths of three rivers, the Kagera (Uganda), Simiyu (Tanzania) and Nyando (Kenya). It would assess the rate of release of nutrients from sediments, analyze sediment-biota associations, and compare the data with soil losses from surrounding areas. The pilot hydraulic study would measure patterns of water circulation in the Rusinga Channel (Kenya), and in similar areas in Tanzanian and Uganda waters, to determine the interaction between vertical and horizontal circulation components, improve existing estimates of hydraulic retention periods in the lake, and develop simulation models of the dynamics of nutrients and phytoplankton which would be used to predict the impacts of eutrophication control programs and pollution intervention strategies.

42. Under the former Hydromet Project, in 1979/80, executed by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) a Lake Victoria Water Quality Model was constructed, designed to be linked with a hydrological model developed with UNDP/WMO assistance. Unfortunately, this model was not calibrated, tested, or validated. The basic process formulations in this model would be re-assessed to determine their current validity, bearing in mind that scientific information about the lake has increased since the model was constructed, and will increase still further under the LVEMP. In addition, knowledge about what kinds of modelling are most useful for management have changed in the interim, making it necessary for the model to be re-formulated, calibrated, validated, and applied under the project to develop and test management strategies for the lake.

Industrial and Municipal Waste Management [US$9.38 million]

43. This program would include one core project, namely Management of Industrial and Municipal Effluents [US$4.07 million], two pilot projects on Integrated Tertiary Municipal Effluent Treatment [US$0.66 million], and Integrated Tertiary Industrial Effluent Treatment [US$0.65 million], and a component for Priority Waste Management Investments [US$4 million]. The overall aim of the program would be to improve management of industrial and municipal effluent, and assess the contribution of urban runoff to lake pollution in order to design alleviation measures. Among other things the program would prepare inventories and classifications for all factories and industries in the catchment, assess treatment of effluent before discharge and its dilution and dispersion levels in the receiving water bodies, identify and characterise pollution "hot spots", establish training arrangements for industrialists and local authorities, launch a public awareness campaign, and initiate pilot treatment projects in selected municipalities and industries. The pilot industrial effluent treatment would create "wetlands" to test tertiary treatment through filtration of industrial waste from the PanPaper Mill in Webuye (Kenya) before it discharges into the Nzoia River, from various industries in Mwanza town (Tanzania), and from various industries in Jinja (Uganda). The program of Priority Waste Management Investments would include urgent rehabilitation of urban sanitation systems which are currently discharging untreated waste directly into the lake.

Land Use and Wetland Management [US$13.41 million]

44. This program would include two core projects, namely Management of Pollution Loading [US$3.47 million], and Buffering Capacity of Wetlands [US$3.78 million], together with four pilot projects: Assessment of the Role of Agro-Chemicals in Pollution [US$0.72 million], Integrated Soil and Water Conservation [US$1.10 million], Sustainable Use of Wetlands Products [US$1.08 million], and Afforestation [US$3.25 million]. Building on the last estimates of primary nutrients reaching Lake Victoria from its catchment, made in 1979/80 by the Hydromet Project, the pollution loading project would establish a water quality monitoring network throughout the catchment, estimate the effects of changes in land use planning on pollution loads in lake, and develop policies and programs to control non-point source pollution. The second project would investigate the buffering processes and capacity of Lake Victoria wetlands, and devise a management strategy for them. It would develop an inventory and classification of the wetlands, monitor nutrient loading in priority areas, simulate the changes of buffering function associated with threats to the wetland resources, assess the economic value of buffering functions, and prepare guidelines and investment proposals for introducing wastewater into wetlands, as well as rehabilitation and artificial wetland construction.

45. The pilot project for agro-chemicals would focus on selected sites in the Winam Gulf and Nyando catchment in Kenya, the Simiyu catchment near Mwanza in Tanzania, and the Kakira sugar estate on the lake shore in Uganda. It would carry out inventories of agro-chemicals in the pilot areas, conduct field trials on the fate of pesticides and nutrients applied on farms, monitor residues leaching out of the pilot catchments, and pesticide levels in receiving rivers, assemble and review a database of agro-chemical use in the Lake Victoria Basin, establish arrangements for disseminating information to all stakeholders, and mount training courses for extension services on the better use of agro-chemicals. The soil conservation pilot would be implemented in the catchments of the Simiyu, Nyando, and Kagera Rivers. It would quantify soil erosion and nutrient loss from different land covers and uses, design remedial measures and sustainable agricultural practices, develop systems to promote soil and water conservation, and establish demonstration units to disseminate successful soil and water conservation measures. The wetlands pilot project, in selected communities in each of the countries, would estimate the economic benefits from wetlands products (such as fish, papyrus, reeds, clay, livestock grazing, and agricultural products), develop management strategies for their sustainable use, and for the rehabilitation of specific degraded wetlands, evolve strategies for community participation in sustainable use, initiate pilot activities to demonstrate this use, and strengthen capacity of local NGOs and CBOs to undertake wise use activities. The afforestation pilot project would protect vital parts of the lake catchment by planting trees. It would increase awareness among communities on catchment protection and tree farming, develop local seed sources, improve management of existing forest reserves and create new reserves, and conserve forest biodiversity.

Policy and Institutional Framework [US$5.72 million]

46. This program would include four components, namely maintaining the coordinating Secretariats [US$2.64 million] , support for riparian universities [US$0.87 million], a Fisheries Levy Trust Study with initial implementation of findings [US$2.04 million], and Pollution Disaster Contingency Planning [US$0.17 million].

PROJECT COSTS AND FINANCING

Cost Estimates

47. The total cost of the project (excluding the fish stock assessment), including physical and price contingencies, is estimated at US$77.81 million, as outlined in the table below. Project costs are shown in US Dollars, because three different domestic currencies are involved.

Financing

48. The three governments would contribute US$7.8 million to the project, leaving US$70 million to be covered by donors. Incremental costs for which GEF financing is requested amount to US$35 million (see next section and Annex I). The remaining project costs would be financed by IDA with an allocation of US$35 million. It is estimated that the GEF funds would disburse as follows: US$5 million in FY97, US$8 million in FY98, US$8 million in FY99, and US$7 million in each of FY2000 and FY2001.

Project Costs (US$'000)


Project Component                          Government   Donor      Total
                                             Share      Finance    Costs

A. Fisheries Management (LVFO)                286       2,574       2,860 
B. Fisheries Research                       1,421      12,787      14,208 
    1. Fish Biology and                       677       6,092       6,769 
	Biodiversity Conservation
    2. Aquaculture                            356       3,200       3,555 
    3. Socio-Economics Studies                282       2,541       2,823 
    4. Establishing Database                  106         955       1,061 
C. Fisheries Extension, Policies, and Laws  1,409      12,681      14,090
D. Water Hyacinth Control                     859       7,735       8,594 
E. Water Quality Monitoring                   955       8,595       9,550 
    1. Eutrophication                         670       6,029       6,699 
    2. Sedimentation (pilot study)             74         665         739 
    3. Hydraulic Conditions (pilot study)      91         823         914 
    4. Lake Victoria Management Model         120       1,078       1,198 
F. Industrial and Municipal Waste             938       8,444       9,382 
Management                                                          
    1. Management of Industrial and           407       3,659       4,066 
	Municipal Effluent
    2. Tertiary Municipal Effluent             66         596         662 
	Treatment (pilot project)
    3. Tertiary Industrial Effluent            65         589         654 
	Treatment (pilot project)
    4. Priority Waste Management              400       3,600       4,000 
	Investments
G. Land Use and Wetland Management          1,341      12,065      13,406 
    1. Pollution Loading                      347       3,127       3,474 
    2. Buffering Capacity of Wetlands         378       3,404       3,782 
    3. Assesment of Agro-Chemicals (pilot)     72         647         719 
    4. Soil and Water Conservation (pilot)    110         986       1,095 
    5. Sustainable Use of                     108         975       1,083
	Wetlands Products (pilot)
    6. Afforestation                          325       2,928       3,253 
H. Policy and Institutional Framework         572       5,149       5,721
1. LVEMP Secretariats                         264       2,374       2,638 
2. Support to Riparian Universities            87         787         874 
3. Fisheries Levy Trust                       204       1,832       2,036 
4. Pollution Disaster Contingency              17         156         173 
TOTAL COSTS                                 7,781      70,030      77,811 

INCREMENTAL COSTS

49. Lake Victoria is a "commons" of water, biota, nutrients, pollutants, and the human activities which use the resources of the lake and its catchments, and impact upon them. In matters such as fishing, the addition of nutrients to the lake, pollution of the lake and its tributaries, the economic characteristics of behavior in a "commons" apply - in particular, the incentives perceived by the individuals, and individual countries involved, all are conducive to actions which may be in the best, short-term interests of the individuals concerned, but not in the best interests of the whole group of countries, nor the global community.

50. The project will be the first regional program to address the major environmental threats to the Lake Victoria ecosystem, all of which are transboundary in character. The project will develop the information, capacity and institutions needed for collective action, and test, through a number of targetted pilot actions and investments, the feasibility and initial impact of some of the priority regional initiatives needed to stabilize the lake ecosystem. Each project component involves significant transaction and regional capacity-building costs first to establish cooperative agreements, and second to implement priority elements of them on a trial basis. These costs are clearly incremental in that they are not in the national baselines, would not be incurred without the project, and address transboundary environmental issues.

51. The project will lay the foundations - of knowledge, capacity, and cooperative institutional frameworks - for a long-term program of investments in the lake and its catchments, which will rehabilitate and stabilise the ecosystem. In particular, these will be investments in cleaning up the waste discharges from polluting industries, rehabilitating and expanding water supply and sanitation systems, reduction of soil erosion, and sustainable management of fisheries and wetlands. There will be substantial investments in these even within the five years of LVEMP implementation, guided by the conceptualization which has already taken place, and the findings of the LVEMP during implementation. Success in the current project will lay the foundations for longer term national benefits for the three countries concerned. For example, if the long-standing barriers to regional fisheries cooperation can be overcome, the design and implementation of a regional fisheries management program will eventually contribute to a more sustainable fish catch, as well as conservation of the lake's aquatic biodiversity. Installation of improved sanitation and water treatment facilities will have benefits for the health of local and national populations.

52. There are, however, significant transaction costs which act as barriers to achieving these benefits, as demonstrated by the lack of progress to date. Examples of the barriers are the lack of institutional capacity, information and scientific understanding. The costs of overcoming these barriers are therefore truly incremental. So too are the costs of actions to achieve additional global benefits, such as aquaculture in support of endangered species, and conservation of critical habitats. Incremental costs of the project are estimated to be US$38.9 million (details in Annex I). In addition to financing the baseline and adjusted baseline measures from non-GEF (IDA) sources, the three riparian governments have agreed to contribute US$3.9 million from their own resources to finance a part of the project's incremental cost. They have requested a GEF grant of US$35 million to fund the balance.

RATIONALE FOR GEF INVOLVEMENT

53. Lake Victoria is an international water body that is both of great economic worth to the three riparian countries and of great scientific and cultural significance to the global community, mainly in respect of its unique waterborne biodiversity. It is suffering severely from three of the four major global environment concerns highlighted in the GEF Operational Strategy for International Waters - degradation of water quality due to pollution from land-based activities; introduction of non-indigenous species; and excessive exploitation of living resources. It is also facing their typical consequences - potentially irreversible environmental damage, hardship to the poor and serious health concerns. With poverty endemic to the region and many competing claims for scarce development resources, the case for GEF-support to overcome the barriers to concerted corrective action is extremely strong. As called for in the operational strategy, the GEF assistance will act as a catalyst for the three countries to develop a better understanding of how the lake functions, learn how the actions of their populations in the lake basin affect the lake environment, and work out ways jointly with one another to implement a comprehensive approach to managing the lake ecosystem to achieve global environment benefits. The project is consistent with both the GEF waterbody-based operational program and with the integrated land and water operational program, while also having elements of the third, contaminant-based, operational program. The project will in particular address another priority in the operational strategy - the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems. As one of the world's largest freshwater biodiversity habitats, and among the most unique, Lake Victoria is a clear priority for GEF assistance.

54. The GEF funding for this project will make possible the elaboration of a strategic framework for a large program of investments in the lake basin during the project implementation period, particularly in municipal waste management and soil conservation, and will also lay the foundation for a longer program of investments over time in these and other areas. It will thus have an enormous "leveraging" impact, for the benefit of the national and global environments. The GEF financing of preparation succeeded in generating strong "ownership" of the project by the three governments which prepared it, and catalysed close collaboration at every stage among IDA, FAO, UNDP and UNEP. The information and pilot work carried out in the GEF project would orient ongoing investments and guide new ones during its five years of implementation, and far beyond. Within the next two years, under projects already begun, IDA and the European Union would invest an estimated US$13 million in improvements to municipal sewage treatment schemes in Kampala and Jinja in Uganda, and Mwanza in Tanzania. The funds would also finance a study of storm water drainage, solid waste management, and water reticulation in Kampala.

55. Two other major infrastructure projects are planned to begin implementation in FY98. They are the Kenya Municipal Reform Project (IDA allocation US$75 million), and the Uganda District Development Project (IDA allocation US$80 million). Both projects are committed to finance water supply and urban sanitation in the lake basin, directly in support of the LVEMP. In Kenya, SIDA has been supporting soil conservation work in Kenya at a level of about US$2 million per year, and is currently formulating a new phase of activities which will continue to include investments in the lake basin. Furthermore, IDA is planning to support a Natural Resource Management Project in Kenya in FY98 (IDA allocation US$55 million), which would include soil conservation work in support of the LVEMP.

56. It is estimated that at least US$60 million of IDA funds from these various projects, over the next five years, will support direct actions to reduce pollution and eutrophication in the lake. While most of these projects were identified initially in the absence of the LVEMP, the latter will increase markedly the success with which they address the priority issues. All of the major projects still forthcoming will "take their signals" from the framework and findings of the LVEMP. There will undoubtedly be major financial support from other donors. Numerous smaller scale activities with bilateral support, implemented by local communities and NGOs, will also benefit from being planned in the context of the improved information base and management plans designed for the ecosystem as a whole, which will result from the LVEMP.

LESSONS LEARNED AND TECHNICAL REVIEW

57. This program would be the first of its kind within the region, addressing a complex set of managerial, scientific/technical and institutional issues across three countries. It would aim to provide Governments with the necessary skills, information, technical and financial resources, and a proper institutional and legal framework to carry out successfully such an endeavor. It would build technical capacity to promote, assist and coordinate the various initiatives within a regional framework, and help design a comprehensive set of national policies and strategies based on lessons learned from field experience. An important lesson incorporated from past operations is to ensure that preparation be done by the countries themselves. The resultant ownership will have the usual national benefits, as well as being especially important in this program which crosses national boundaries, since the three governments have already gained valuable experience working together during preparation.

58. A copy of the Technical Review of the project is included as Annex II. The present report has responded to the review by acknowledging the uncertainty about sources and mechanics of eutrophication, incorporating the specific management elements suggested by the reviewer, setting the stage for a new approach to modelling, reiterating the emphasis already contained in the first draft, that management of the lake's problems is the aim of everything in the project, and delineating the project's large elements of capacity building.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Management Structure

59. The Tripartite Agreement (signed August 5, 1994) which set in motion a collaborative process of project preparation among the three countries, provided also for project implementation. In particular it established three National Secretariats, each headed by a high-level officer, selected by the respective governments, and supported by a modest staff of 4-5 including an accountant, secretary, driver and messenger. These Secretariats served an essential coordination role during project preparation, and it is planned that this role should continue into the project implementation phase. These three small groups, one in each country, would provide a day-to-day central contact point and information clearing house for all agencies implementing the program, and all donors supporting it. While the many implementing agencies would be responsible for progress on their own components, and for monitoring and reporting on that progress, the Secretariats would gather information from all the agencies in their respective countries, be responsible for overall monitoring, and prepare progress reports for decision making about the overall project. The Heads of the Secretariats would also, when necessary, organize tripartite meetings of officials responsible for various components of the program. The Regional Secretariat in Tanzania would organize meetings, when required, of members of the Regional Policy and Steering Committee, which would also remain in place, with the same membership as it has had throughout project preparation. The Committee would have many roles, perhaps the most important being the mechanism for resolution of disputes arising during implementation of the program.

60. The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization would assume overall coordination for components associated with fisheries, although as the project description outlines, implementation would be by individual national agencies, and the Regional Policy and Steering Committee would be responsible for overall program coordination, including coordination between the fisheries program as a whole and the rest of the program.

Implementing Agencies

61. The various national agencies would implement components of the projects as follows. The three Fisheries Research Institutes (KEMFRI, TAFIRI and FIRI) would play lead roles in the Fish Stock Assessment and all sub-components of fisheries research, and would collaborate with the Fisheries Departments of their respective governments in the fisheries extension, and with the Ministries of Water in the Water Quality components. For the latter components, the Ministries of Water would be the lead agencies, and they in turn would collaborate closely with the Ministries of Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture in their implementation of the components on land use and wetland management. National wetlands committees in all three countries would also be involved in these components, with continuing assistance from the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The Moi, Makarere, and Sokoine Universities, and the Universities of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, would be invviding for the implementation phase a continuing legal framework which has already been tested and found sound. Institutional arrangements which have proved their worth during preparation - especially the structure of National Secretariats and a joint Policy Steering Committee - will be continued unchanged for implementation. Supported by the UNDP, special efforts during preparation were made in all three countries to involve communities around the lake in generation and discussion of project proposals, along with information-gathering to ensure that project proposals address the needs of local communities. The large emphasis on fisheries extension is one of many outcomes of this process. The government preparation report acknowledges that "one of the major setbacks in aquatic resource management in East Africa is the general lack of community participation in management programs", and notes that such participation "is considered key to the successful implementation of this program."

68. Throughout the project special efforts would be made to involve local communities, and the capacity of a number of local NGOs and CBOs would be strengthened so that they could facilitate the process of community participation and owership, and lead the communities in undertaking wise use activities of the resources in the lake and its basin. A special feature of the Fish Biology and Biodiversity Conservation program implementation, for example, would be attempts to involve local communities in identification of issues, tagging and recapture efforts, return of immature fish, surveillance of protected areas, sampling of commercial catches, protection of research equipment, and compilation of research data. Many of the other scientific initiatives would involve communities in carrying out the measurements, and in caring for monitoring equipment. For the water hyacinth control program, in particular, it would be essential for local people to understand and assist with the biological control efforts.

69. The project has community participation woven into virtually every component, funding for micro-projects, a great deal of community training, hundreds of stakeholder workshops, and provision for community participation in everything from scientific studies to water hyacinth control, fisheries research to own-enforcement of agreed fishery regulations, sustainable use of wetlands to soil conservation, with benefits springing from better fishing management, aquaculture, higher quality products, lower post-harvest losses, cleaner water, more control over local fishing beaches, and construction of community assets.

70. Acknowledging that availability of reliable and adequate funding is essential for management of fisheries, which involves continuing research, extension, monitoring and enforcement, the three governments have proposed to study and implement jointly a program in which funds raised from the commercial fisheries themselves would contribute to underwriting fisheries management in the longer term, as well as assisting some of the central monitoring and management initiatives to become fiscally sustainable. The study would identify sources of funds, and also examine in depth the issues involved in managing such funds on a regional basis. The LVEMP includes financial support for establishing a shared Levy Trust Fund among the three countries, should the study show this to be feasible.

ISSUES AND RISKS

Possible Issues and Responsive Actions

71. The main areas where activities undertaken in the project may have negative environmental impacts are the following:

72. The following steps would be taken during project implementation, to minimise the possibilities of these negative impacts arising, or mitigating their effects: Risks

73. The main risk is that the strength of the commitments by the three Governments will fail to sustain a regional environmental management program for the lake basin. This may express itself through inadequate budgetary arrangements to fund regional bodies (such as the LVFO) or coordinating agencies, erosion over time of the powers given to such institutions, or unwillingness or lack of capacity to follow-up on regional regulatory decisions or guidelines through enforcement at the national level. Since the three governments have collaborated well during program preparation, and the proposed program provides many opportunities for low-risk collaboration on technical issues, which should build confidence steadily during implementation, the main sources of waning commitment would seem to be external to the program. The risk of inadequate or unforeseen results emerging from the research and studies in the program would be reduced by the appointment of a Panel of Distinguished Scientists who would review regularly the progress of implementation.

Annex 1: Calculation of Incremental Costs


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