- Lake Turkana is the most saline lake in East Africa and the largest desert lake in the world
- NMK is keen to reverse threats facing Lake Turkana National Parks
Experts have warned that Lake Turkana National Parks could soon be removed from the World Heritage List.
This is if interventions are not put in place to reverse the current threats.
Lake Turkana National Parks comprise Sibiloi National Park and the South and the Central Island National Parks, which cover 161,485 hectares (399038.125 acres).
They are located within Lake Turkana basin, whose total surface area is seven million hectares (17.2 million acres).
Lake Turkana is the most saline lake in East Africa and the largest desert lake in the world.
It is surrounded by an arid, seemingly extraterrestrial landscape that is often devoid of life.
The long body of the lake drops down along Rift Valley from the Ethiopian border, extending 249 km from North to South and 44 km at its widest point, with a depth of 30 metres.
It is Africa's fourth-largest lake, fondly called the Jade Sea because of its breathtaking color.
Challenges and potential threats facing the lake include, severe droughts, livestock encroachment, climate change impacts, poaching, siltation, receding water levels, human-wildlife conflicts and poor infrastructure.
Owing to the threats , Lake Turkana National Parks are now listed as a World Heritage Site in danger.
It is for this reason that site managers and representatives of national administrations responsible for world heritage sites from six countries are convening in Nairobi for a three-day workshop to try and put in place corrective measures.
Unesco’s list of world heritage sites in danger is meant to inform the international community of conditions that threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the list and to encourage corrective action.
National Museums of Kenya director general Professor Mary Gikungu said the organisation is keen to reverse threats facing Lake Turkana National Parks.
Gikungu said the Kenya Lake System in Rift Valley was inscribed on the World Heritage Site in 2011.
The lakes include Elementaita, Nakuru and Lake Bogoria.
“Kenya has received support from various heritage conservation programmes from Unesco regional centre for East Africa. These include, but are not limited to, the capacity building of Kenya’s world heritage site managers in disaster risk at a workshop in 2019,” she said.
Gikungu said other sites in Africa facing serious threats include, Tanzania and Madagascar.
“As a country, we have made significant strides in matters of world heritage conservation,” she said.
Owing to these strides, Kenya has been entrusted with the seat of vice chair for the world heritage committee.
Gikungu said the country has also been tasked with hosting the African committee members in June, before the world heritage session takes place in India in July.
She said NMK will execute its mandate as the national focal point of the 1972 World Heritage Convention.
Further, a proposal has been made to inscribe the historical town of Gede on the World Heritage List.
Some of the sites in the World Heritage Sites list include Mt Kenya National Park and Natural Forest, Lamu Old Town, Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, Fort Jesus, Kenya Lake System in Rift Valley and Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site.
Kenya Wildlife Service senior assistant director for conservation Solomon Kyalo said there are elements looked at while designating sites.
He said the site has to maintain its values for it to maintain its status.
Kyalo said if the universally outstanding values are being degraded, the site will be put on the danger list.
“The country has been asked to put in place some actions for the maintenance of its outstanding universal values. If it takes long, then it can be considered in a session of the World Heritage Committee to make a decision on the placement of that site, it can be degraded as a Unesco site in danger,” he said.
Kyalo said that as a country, we are required to address issues including getting Ethiopia to cooperate to reduce the threats to Lake Turkana posed by the infrastructure development upstream the Omo River, which include the damming of the river for hydropower generation and sugarcane irrigation (Gibe dams and Kuraz irrigation schemes).
Lake Turkana was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997.
It represents unique geo-morphological features with fossil deposits on sedimentary formations and 100 identified archaeological and paleontological sites.
There are numerous volcanic overflows with petrified forests.
The existing ecological conditions provide habitats for maintaining diverse flora and fauna.
At Kobi Fora, to the North of Allia Bay, extensive paleontological finds have been made, starting in 1969 with the discovery of Paranthropus boise.
The discovery of Homo habilis thereafter is evidence of the existence of a relatively intelligent hominid two million years ago and reflects the change in climate from moist forest grassland when the now petrified forest was growing to the present hot desert.
The human and pre-human fossils include the remains of five species, Austrolophithecus anamensis, Homo habilis/rudolfensis, Paranthropus boise, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, all found within one locality.
These discoveries are important for understanding the evolutionary history of the human species.
Lake Turkana National Parks enjoy the highest level of legal protection under both the Kenya Wildlife Act, Cap. 376 and the Antiquities and Monuments Act, Cap. 215 (currently the National Museums and Heritage Act of 2006).
Sibiloi was legally designated as a national park in 1973, whereas the South and Central Islands were legally designated in 1983 and 1985.
The property is co-managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the National Museums of Kenya.
Following the extension of the property in 2001, a first management plan was developed for the period of 2001 to 2005.
The long-term plan foresees the development of an integrated management plan for the area. Formalisation of the existing collaboration between KWS, NMK and other stakeholders through a Memorandum of Understanding will be necessary for the successful implementation of the plan.
For a site to be named a World Heritage Site, a state party must demonstrate that it has outstanding universal cultural, historical, natural, and archaeological value.
Only parties to the World Heritage Convention can submit nomination proposals for properties to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The process that takes time after the property is submitted and added to the ‘inventory' is known as the tentative list.
Once a year, the World Heritage Committee meets to decide which sites will be inscribed on the World Heritage List.