LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

With average land holdings estimated at 0.75 ha per

capita and a population growing at a rate of 3 per

cent per year (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007),

the LVB continues to undergo significant changes

in land use. Huge sections of the Basin have been

taken over by settlements and some areas have

been inundated by water following the construction

of dams, while others have been opened up for

mining. Significant areas of the Basin have also been

converted to farmland.

Vast tracts of wetlands have been converted to

agriculture and settlements, among other uses. As

much as 13 per cent of the wetlands in the LVB are

said to be severely degraded (Lake Victoria Basin

Commission 2007); this includes the densely populated

Nakivubo Wetlands in Uganda and the Yala swamps in

Kenya (Abila 2002). The wetlands that once engulfed

the Mwanza Gulf have been converted into agricultural

lands, primarily rice fields, while some sections have

been taken over by human settlements. Sections of the

Akaranya Wetland system in Rwanda are now used for

subsistence farming.

Land use change

Kigali

Bujumbura

Kampala

Nairobi

KENYA

UGANDA

DEMOCRATIC

REPUBLIC OF THE

CONGO

RWANDA

BURUNDI

TANZANIA

Lake

Albert

Lake

Kyoga

Lake

Baringo

Lake

Bogoria

Lake

Naivasha

Lake

Kivu

Lake

Tangayika

Lake

George

Lake

Kyanebalola

Kagera

Lake

Ikimba

Lake

Burigi

Simiyu

Mbalageti

Mara

Nzola

Sondu

Victoria Nile

Katonga

Lake

Kachira

Lake

Wamala

Lake

Edward

Lake Victoria

Land-use patterns

Agricultural

areas

Protected

areas

Main urban

areas

Land-use

Sources: International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2014, “World Database on

Protected Areas” (

protectedplanet.net

, accessDecember 2015); Eric O. Odada et al., 2004,

“Mitigation of EnvironmentalProblems in Lake Victoria, East Africa: Causal Chain and

Policy Options Analyses”, Ambio, Vol. 33, No. 1-2, RoyalSwedishAcademy of Sciences.

Lake Victoria

basin

Altitude

4 000

3 000

2 000

1 500

1 000

500

200

5 000 m

100 km

Figure 2.4: Land use patterns in the Lake Victoria Basin

Pasture in Eldoret, Kenya