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As a resource that is not only shared by all partner
states of the EAC, but also provides the headwaters
to the Nile River Basin, management of the LVB
requires a coordinated approach. Benefits can be
realized equitably through coordination in the use and
management of transboundary resources and services
such as fisheries, inland transport, power generation,
climate regulation, transboundary conservation and
the management of international water towers.
The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), a
specialized institution of the EAC, coordinates all
activities in the LVB, with the primary goal of ensuring
coordinated and sustainable development. The
establishment of the LVBC is provided for under article
114 of the 1999 Treaty establishing the EAC, in which
the partner states designated the Lake Victoria and
its Basin as an economic growth zone that should be
exploited in a coordinated manner. This is highlighted
in the first East African Cooperation Development
Strategy (1997-2000) (EAC 1999).
In order to fulfil the East African Cooperation
Development Strategy, a study to determine the legal
and institutional arrangements for managing the Basin
was commissioned in 2000 by the EAC Secretariat.
The study culminated in the establishment of the
Lake Victoria Development Programme Unit (LVDP)
in 2001, at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha. The Unit led
the negotiations for the Protocol for the Sustainable
Development of Lake Victoria Basin, which was
concluded on 29 November, 2003, and ratified by
the partner states in December 2004. The LVBC was
formally established by the EAC Council of Ministers in
Institutional Arrangements
Settlements on the shorelines of Jinja, Uganda