LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

According to the Africa Water Atlas (UNEP 2010), the number of people living within 100 km of Lake Victoria’s shoreline has been increasing much faster than the population of Africa as a whole since the 1960s. The Lake’s resources support the livelihoods of the people living within and beyond the Lake Basin boundaries. The expanding population is blamed for the high rates of deforestation and land conversion, as well as pollution from agriculture, livestock and industry (Lehman 2009). The high population densities within the Lake Basin are due to the favourable conditions for agriculture and fishing. Since the turn of the century, the average population density on the shoreline of Lake Victoria has been high, and in some countries even higher than the present day average of 216 persons per km 2 . For example, on the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan sides of the Basin the population densities then were 297 persons per km², 97 persons per km² and 635 persons per km², respectively (UNEP 2006).

1960

2000

Figure 3.1: Changes in population density in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Source: UNEP 2006

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