LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

Great wildebeest migration, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Large-scale irrigation and industrial activities, such as

mining along the sprawling Mara Basin, have led to high

rates of water extraction. Increased forest clearance and

cultivation in the upper catchment of the Mau uplands

have progressively led to excessive sedimentation loads

and altered the hydrography of the Mara River – the

only source of drinking water for migratory wildlife

during the dry season in August and September in the

Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (UNEP 2009).

Seasonal floods and droughts have become more

frequent and extreme, making the Mara River water

flow more unpredictable over the past few years. The

Mara River is not large enough to cope with the ever-

increasing activities, which will severely degrade the

riverine ecosystem and eventually disrupt the ecosystem

services that support the local population, livestock

and wildlife. This, in turn, will impact on the overall

Basin economy. In the worst-case scenario, it could

lead to the collapse of the wildebeest migration that

sustains the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, with devastating

consequences for the tourism industry (UNEP 2009).

Blue wildebeest in the Serengeti