LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

Forestry Natural forest cover in the LVB consists of tropical forest, woodlands and savannah forest. About 80 per cent of rural households in the Basin depend on forest resources for basic energy and food. The forests provide a range of environmental services such as greenhouse gas mitigation, watershed protection, climate regulation, soil and water conservation and nutrient cycling. The forestry sector contributes an average of 6–10 per cent of partner states GDP and provides between 850,000 and one million jobs in the formal sector (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2012). The majority of these jobs are in fuelwood and charcoal production. The diverse forest ecosystems in the LVB provide an array of habitats for multiple species of high global significance. These include species of megafauna in protected areas such as the Akagera National Park, Lake Mburo, the Burigi Game Reserve, the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya and the Serengeti National

Park in Tanzania. The ecosystems also include natural forests such as Gishwati, Nyungwe, Kakamega, Nandi and Timborua and remnants of previously widespread riverine forests along the Kagera, Mara, Nzoia, Yala Nyando, Miriu and Simiyu Rivers. Many endemic plant and animal species such as Ficus toningii , Markhamia luttea and Eritrina abbissinic species are valued for their medicinal properties and as sources of food (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2012). Extensive swampy forests and grasslands with dense tall grasses and papyrus are important ecological components of the LVB floodplain ecosystem. However, these continue to be cleared for commercial and subsistence agriculture, as well as for grazing during times of drought. This severely compromises the important function that swamps and wetlands play in regulating water flow, filtering nutrients such as excess nitrogen and phosphorous, capturing sediments and nurturing biodiversity and habitat for fauna and flora – upon which the health and productivity of the LVB depends.

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

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