Kenya and Ethiopia are working together to restore and protect wetlands.
Wetlands International and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) are bringing together stakeholders from Ethiopia and Kenya to address the loss of wetlands and their biodiversity.
The stakeholders are drawn from local communities, national and county government representatives and civil society groups.
The initiative, called Source to Sea, aims to improve the conservation status of high-value wetlands in the Rift Valley and the East African mangrove coast.
Wetlands International Eastern Africa director Julie Mulonga said there is need to protect and restore wetlands at local and regional levels.
She spoke during a workshop in Lodwar.
Mulonga said protection and restoration will be done through knowledge exchange and dissemination of data on wetland status and distribution, biodiversity and socio-economic values.
She said stakeholders will be trained to support local and regional projects and the development of integrated management plans at country and ecoregion levels.
“Many parts of Africa are currently facing catastrophic climate-related impacts. In Kenya, we are suffering from drought, and so are parts of Ethiopia. South Sudan has been hit by floods as have Niger and South Africa," Mulonga said.
"Unfortunately, wetlands continue to be depleted and yet they are our last best natural defence against climate change impacts among other benefits.”
“By bringing together key stakeholders from the beginning – as we are doing today – and to conceptualise, develop and implement the interventions, we will work toward ensuring that all parties jointly safeguard and restore the four wetland landscapes,” Mulonga added.
Ayele Bekele, Sida’s Project Manager for Regional Development Cooperation Africa, Environment and Climate, said wetlands enhance water quality, control erosion, maintain stream flows, store carbon and are home to at least a third of all threatened and endangered species.
“Wetlands are declining, both in area and quality, reducing the services they provide to society. And despite the essential role wetlands play in global climate change regulation, they still remain undervalued by policy and decision makers in national plans,” Bekele said.
“The Source to Sea initiative is regional in scope but will utilise initiatives at the country level to influence policy and public thinking to leverage impact at national and regional scales.”
Bekele said the three-year initiative will focus on two ecoregions in four wetland landscapes.
The Rift Valley lakes ecoregion covers Ziway-Shalla basin in Ethiopia, which is home to two million people, and the Omo-Turkana basin, where 500,000 people live.
The East African mangrove ecoregion has Rufiji Delta in Tanzania that has 70 per cent of the country’s mangrove forests, while Lamu and seascape in Kenya is home to 145,000 people and harbours 60 per cent of the country’s saltwater forests.
Edited by A.N
