Water hyacinth still a major challenge to L. Victoria Basin

The water hyacinth in Lake Victoria still poses a big challenge to Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC despite various mechanisms to eradicate the weed, said the Chairperson of the 10th sectoral council of ministers of East African Community (EAC). Musa Sirma, Kenyan Minister for EAC, said this yesterday at the ministerial session of the meeting of the 10th sectoral council of EAC ministers for LVBC.“The water weed has become a serious menace to the basin even though several measures have been put in place to remove the hyacinth,” he said.“We have been talking for many years about completely eliminating the water weed which had impacted negatively on the transport development and fishing on the lake, but nothing has been done to address the challenge”. Water hyacinth, also known as Eichhornia crassipes, is one of the most invasive waterweeds in the world, and was first observed in Lake Victoria in 1989. The aquatic plant has since then negatively impacted livelihood on the fresh water lake.Sirma suggested use of manual methods to remove the weed if scientific ones have proved futile. The meeting which started on April 30 will end today with a Ministerial Study Tour to selected activities of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission in Rwanda. Rwanda became the first country among the EAC bloc to host such a meeting outside Kisumu, Kenya, the seat of the Commission, following a decision of the 9th Meeting of the Sectoral Council to commence the rotation of such meetings in all the five Partner States.The move to rotate the meetings is also meant to enhance the visibility of the Commission in the communities it serves and allow participants to visit its activities on the ground.According to Stanislas Kamanzi, the Minister of Natural Resources, water hyacinth is indeed a major challenge to the regional water bodies and needs urgent attention.“We have initiated mechanisms to eradicate the water weed through various activities, for instance, Lakes Ihema and Shakani, where we are trying to remove the hyacinth in an environmentally friendly manner,” he said.Kamanzi observed that the LVBC has a special place in the history of the EAC partner states. Its catchments and watercourses connect every East African Country.He said the country has taken great steps and made good progress in environmental and water resources management, a key ingredient to climate change mitigation.Currently, Rwanda is implementing two main projects of LVBC, including the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project Phase II (LVEMP II) and the Lake Victoria Water Supply and Sanitation Programme Phase II (LVWATSAN II).The meeting considered several reports on the status of implementation of decisions of the 9th Sectoral Council of Ministers; and the Annual Report 2010-2011, as well as the LVBC Strategic plan for 2011/2016.Dr. Canisius Kanangire, the Executive Secretary of LVBC, said the commission was currently addressing water hyacinth on lake Victoria in two ways; water hyacinth surveillance control and the use of heavy machinery to remove the aquatic plant for biogas production.Kanangire said the basin continues to face challenges of poverty, environmental degradation, avoidable deaths from droughts, floods, landslides and climate change.The Lake Victoria Basin covers an estimated 194,000 square kilometres. It has a population of about 40 million people; a GDP of $40 billion; and, a wealth of resources of economic importance.LVBC is an institution of the EAC established to coordinate the sustainable development agenda of the Lake Victoria Basin.frank.kanyesigye@newtimes.co.rw

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Water hyacinth still a major challenge to L. Victoria Basin