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Lake Turkana: a UNESCO World Heritage Site in danger
from Global status on water-related ecosystems and acceleration needs to achieve SDG6 target 6 by 2030
CASE STUDY: WATER QUALITY
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Lake Turkana is the world’s largest desert lake. Located in northern Kenya, it receives 90 per cent of its fresh water from the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is the most saline of Africa’s great lakes and contributes to the livelihoods of more than 300,000 people, including smallholders, fishers and tourism operators. Lake Turkana is a major breeding ground for hippos, Nile crocodiles and more than 350 species of fish and birds, and was thus made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Due to its algal colouration, the lake is also commonly known as the Jade Sea.
A series of hydropower dams are being expanded along the Omo River and in the Lower Omo Valley (in Ethiopia), including Africa’s highest dam, the Gilgel Gibe III. Although these dams are expected to double Ethiopia’s electricity output, supply water for industrial farming and help expand sugar cultivation, they are threatening Lake Turkana and its local communities. In fact, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2018) has reported rapidly declining water levels downstream of the Gilgel Gibe III Dam since January 2015, which has disrupted water flows into Lake Turkana. Such disruptions will likely impact the lake’s wildlife and fish stocks on which these communities depend.
In the past 30 years, the Lake Turkana basin has also experienced significant land-cover and landuse changes. Forest area, for example, has decreased mostly at the expense of agriculture and woodland. The land-use changes and the annual volume of, and patterns in, inflows into the lake have affected its turbidity, salinity, algal productivity and habitats, all of which impact the lake’s fish populations (Ojwang and others, 2018) and people’s livelihoods, which along with water quality, natural protected areas and World Heritage Sites are now at risk (National Geographic, 2015; Tadesse, 2015; Avery, 2018; Ratner, 2020).
The decade-long monitoring of turbidity and algal concentration using satellite data – also available via the SDG indicator 6.6.1 app – highlights some of these complex issues and how the priceless value of freshwater ecosystems is at risk globally.
