Lentic-Lotic Water System Response to Anthropogenic and Climatic Factors in Kenya and Their Sustainable Management

Kenya has many lakes which have evolved through geological time; most of the modern ones were created during the Lower to Middle Pleistocene. While all of them react to climate changes over geological timescales, a number of them are highly sensitive to even seasonal climate variations, fluctuating quite dramatically in surface area and level, and are, therefore, commonly referred to as “amplifier” lakes. There is a range of biological diversity in the lakes, and the rivers and wetlands within the lake basins, in diverse ecosystems that provide various goods and services to the local communities around them. However, there is mounting evidence that the impacts of human activity (e.g., deforestation, agriculture, water abstractions) and hydrological variability related to global warming effects on climate (rainfall, temperature) are already affecting these natural aquatic resources, leading to changes in fauna and flora distributions and in their overall resource values. The consequences are mostly adverse, but there are also beneficial ones. Climate, environment, and society interact in complex ways in lake basin ecosystems. For example, there has been no clear understanding of the cause(s) of the striking rise in lake levels in the central rift lakes of Kenya since 2010 which have resulted in submerged buildings and road infrastructure, and displacement and/or disruption of the socio-ecological system. Implementation of viable and sustainable management and use options is critical, but it is currently precluded by myriad factors, including lack of timely and adequate data for decision-making, siloed sectoral approaches, jurisdictional challenges at sub-national and regional scales, overlapping institutional mandates, and diverse and uncoordinated stakeholder groupings. A pathway for development of lake basin-specific management plans in Kenya is outlined, based on the Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) approach, that can help to ensure the health and sustainability of the lakes and their basins and continued provision of goods and services to the people and wildlife that are dependent upon them.