The Water Hole

Category: Community, Sugar, Tana Delta, Wetlands, Wildlife | Date: Jun 06 2008 | By: thewaterhole

New information has been coming in about the outcome of the NEMA-organized public hearings on the Tana Delta Integrated Sugar Project (TISP). At one point it had become apparent that the EIA for the sugar project had been okayed but a quick follow-up on this information by our wetlands team proved that that was not the case. The truth is that the EIA report has neither been okeyed nor rejected. NEMA has however written to the project proponents so that they can address the pertinent issues that emerged before, during and after the public hearings.

I told you about the happenings during the first public hearing of the project’s EIA at Danisa Village, Tana River and promised to tell you about the other two meetings. Well the proceedings were not so much different in these villages but the sideshows were unique in each meeting.

At Golbanti in Tana River District, the start of the hearings was relatively calm and orderly but it was not long before the ‘circus came to town’. Trouble started when – after the EIA lead expert made his presentation – the local level network of the EAWLS/KWF team asked some very hard questions for which neither the EIA lead expert nor the Mumias/TARDA officials had answers.

These dancers had been hired to sing about the ‘good’ of the project

This is said to have irked the Tana River District Commissioner (DC) who then accused the EAWLS team and particularly our Deputy Director, Hadley Becha, and George Wamukoya of CREEL, of inciting the local leaders. He is reported to have ordered law enforcement officers to ‘contain’ the two. It is at this point that the pro-sugar villagers mobbed around our Land Rover intending to heckle and intimidate our team. The team stood firm. The anti-sugar villagers dared the police to lay a hand on any member of the team (including driver, Benson Vidambu) and ‘the meeting would be over’. The aggressors retreated on hearing this allowing the meeting to proceed albeit with each side of the sugar divide twitching with tension.

When the Kenya Lands Alliance rep took the microphone, he stripped the proposed project bare by his convincing presentation. “It was lethal” said Hadley, “even the pro-sugar group applauded”. This and the Tana River County Council’s argument must have dented the proponents’ hopes of getting the all important go ahead to a painfully significantly scale.

On the next day of the hearing, NEMA went to Witu Trading Center in Lamu District where some 600 hectares of deltaic land are targeted for conversion into sugarcane plantations by the proponents.

On their way to Witu, our team overtook a lorry belonging to TARDA (complete with the characteristic blue parastatal registration plates) full of hecklers they had ‘imported’ from Kipini.

The TARDA lorry ready to pick up its human cargo

This was atrocious and when our team got to Witu they quickly met with the area’s leadership to debrief them on this and other concerns. It was no surprise therefore that the moderator of the hearings decreed – at the start of the hearings – that only Witu residents would be allowed to make presentations.

The human cargo scrambles for standing room in the lorry

Once the meeting was underway pertinent issues were raised. Importantly, the Lamu County Council had not been officially informed of the proponents’ intention to use the 600 ha land. Concerns were raised about the loss of grazing land and livelihoods for the pastoralists and fisher folk of Didawaride, Moa and other villages further afield. There was also mention of impending corruption and dishonesty as had been witnessed by a previous attempt to grow sugarcane in the area by a ‘MAT International’.

The residents pointed out that the EIA presentation only gave the positives of the project and nobody was telling them about the negative impacts of the project. At some point – while taking the heat from Hadley – the EIA lead expert could be seen to be telling lies and half-truths.

Now the public hearings are done and it emerged clearly that the EIA study was deficient and it failed to address very important issues. Although the push among the political class is for the project to get the go ahead for the sake of ‘development’ in the area, NEMA could not totally ignore the concerns raised.

In this regard, NEMA has written to the project proponents asking them to address the issues raised among them biodiversity, water balance and land ownership. It is until these questions have been answered that NEMA will make their final decision. It is to be noted however, that the EIA report has not yet been rejected.

Conservationists are now regrouping to forge a way forward given what we know up to this point in time. You can be assured that although some battles have been won, the war is still on.

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Category: Community, Kenya, Sugar, Tana Delta, Wetlands, Wildlife | Date: May 08 2008 | By: admin

Yesterday was the second day of the NEMA public hearings at the Tana Delta and as expected the villagers turned out in large numbers to voice their concerns. It is important, however, to note that not all villagers are against the Tana Integrated Sugar Project.

Take the events of yesterday for instance. Pastoralists came out with their goats and sheep to the meeting and carrying placards and uprooted sugarcane. They were not just going to use their voice to talk down the project. They were going to show the experts that their livestock is in danger. There was quite a fiasco when they started chanting protests and planting and uprooting sugarcane stalks (it looked quite comical on TV, i might say). Apparently, based on a report in the Daily Nation newspaper, they pulled the same stunts on the first day of the protest (Tuesday) much to the chagrin of the crop farmers.

The farmers, as I have said before, are largely supportive of the project. They are looking at the opportunity to supply sugarcane to the sugar factory as out-growers. About 10,000 acres of land has been promised to them under the out-grower scheme. The EAWLS and other conservationists are however gaining ground in their campaign to get the support of this crucial group. They have been providing factual information about the irreparable harm that this project could visit on the Delta.

The out-grower scheme and the said 20,000 jobs that the project has promised are being used as bait to lure the community to accept it. Project proponents know that it does not stand a chance in environmental terms and they are therefore employing cheap tactics - in the guise of socio-economic benefits - to lure the local people into their trap. It would be important to note that a sugar project in Ramisi (in Kwale District further south) also in the Kenya coast is not doing very well either. How dumb can people be? If Ramisi didn’t work, how do hey expect Tana to work?

Maybe an excerpt from an article published in the Sunday Standard a year ago will tell you how Ramisi fares these days:

Piles of concrete rubble spread for hundreds of metres, accentuated by large pillars sticking out as if in defiant mockery. Giant rats, baboons and monkeys fight for the wild berries growing in the compound, and a plantation of blooming cashew nut trees and coconut palms may be harvested by any passer-by.

Ramisi has been dead since 1987 (in the end, i think nature won). By the way, almost all state sugar plants have had to be bailed out by the government at one point or the other after digging themselves into a financial rut. Now they tell us the Tana Sugar will flourish.

The pastoralists are of course not amused. They are more than 20,000 hectares of their seasonal grazing land. They say that their animals will die when the dry season comes. From an environmental perspective, pastoralism is more eco-friendly and that would explain why we are sympathetic to the pastoralists cause. The Masai Mara is among the most spectacular wildlife areas because - on the large part - the Maasai are pastoralists. Somebody convince me that growing wheat (which is the ideal crop for the area) in the Mara - if it came to that - would make more economic sense than tourism and I will call him/her a blatant liar.

The environmentalists who are following the proceedings down at the Delta are using all opportunities to fight this monster both for the sake of the environment and for the sake of the community. Although crop farmers may see the immediate economic benefits, they need to be told that environmental damage arising from the project will in the long run affect the productivity of their land. Their yields of food-crops will definitely decline.

Today is the last day of the hearings and in two weeks NEMA will make a decision on whether the project is to be given a clean bill of environmental health or not

Lets wait and see.

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Category: Community, Kenya, Sugar, Tana Delta, Wetlands | Date: May 05 2008 | By: admin

As NEMA gears up for the three public hearings on the proposed Tana Integrated Sugar Project, a new report by Nature Kenya has revealed that not only will the project contravene some laws, but it also does not make economic sence.

According to Nature Kenya, Mumias Sugar Company (project proponent) says that they will be making KShs 151-million (US$ 2.5-million) each year for the next 20 years. This figure, however is incorrect since they have not factored in such costs as fees for water use, compensation for lost livelihoods, chemical pollution and loss of tourism and wildlife which would give the true cost of the project. The report says that if these costs were included, the project would make as little as US$ 790,000 per annum. This according to them is a total waste of a rich resource that already makes US$ 60-million from tourism, farming (livestock), fisheries and other incomes.

In light of this report, Nature Kenya strongly recommends that the project be abandoned altogether. We hope with such convincing evidence against the project, the TISP will not be allowed to go on. We hope that Nature Kenya will join our own Wetlands team right now headed for the Delta to try and convince NEMA that the project cant go on when the public hearings start tomorrow (May 6).

A summary of key issues discussed in the report can be found here

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Category: Community, Sugar, Tana Delta, Wetlands, Wildlife | Date: Mar 12 2008 | By: admin

The Kenya Government is now using bait to diffuse local community protests to the proposal to convert some 20,000 hectares of the country’s prime wetland, Tana Delta wetlands, into a sugar plantation and the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) seems to have swallowed its share of bait already. The national press reports that NEMA’s Director General, Dr. Muusya Mwinzi, had visited the residents of the Delta last weekend in a mission - according to us at the Water Hole - to regurgitate some of this bait.

Dr Mwinzi was not alone, he was part of the train that the Permanent Secretary (PS) for Finance, Mr Joseph Kinyua, and his Regional Development counterpart, Mr David Stower, had hauled down to the Delta. They had with them a full basket of bait.

‘Mr Finance’ promised the locals that the government would loan them money to purchase at least 15% of the stake in the project, they will become outgrowers, and own a stake in the sugar producing company. The outgrowers will have 4,000 hectares out of the 20,000 ha that the project will put under sugarcane. They were promissed that 20,000 jobs would come out of the project, which, in his view, will support the livelihoods of 3-million people.

The project, according to the EIA I discussed in my previous post, is economically viable but presents serious environmental consequences. Pastoralists, like i said, are the ones most opposed among the communities as they see a huge chunk of their livestock’s pasture dissappearing. The PS Finance dismissed the pastoralists protests as having arisen from ‘excitement’ following the announcement of the project. He openly ‘gave the nod’ to the project.

Dr Mwinzi on the other hand, not wanting to openly chorus the sentiments of the PS, said that the EIA report that stands between the idea and the actualisation of the project is being harmonised by considering the comments that the public submitted to Nema (see previous post). To try and appear serious, he announced that he had constituted a committee of 10 ‘experts’ to review the comments and harmonise them with the EIA report before NEMA can endorse the project. He supported this argument by announcing that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) would conduct an aerial survey to scope the effect of the project on wildlife before NEMA can finalise the EIA.

We suspect that with such heavy government baiting, the environment is likely to loose. The Kenya Wetlands Forum and EAWLS will however continue to put pressure on NEMA not to give the project an environmental ‘clean bill’ since it is obvious that there will be irreversible environmental damage should the project proceed. We will continue working with our allies within the community and to try and marshall international support to stop this potentially harmful ‘development’.

We need all the support we can get.

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Category: Community, Marine, Wetlands, Wildlife | Date: Feb 18 2008 | By: admin

On 12 February 2008, our wetlands programme officers, Peter Odhiambo and Rashida Suleiman, accompanied by our Deputy Director and Head of Conservation, Hadley Becha, travelled down to the Tana Delta to meet with the local people there. They went to discuss with the local people their various comments on the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA) conducted in preparation for the Tana Integrated Sugar Project (TISP). The law requires that once a project proponent has submitted their EIA, the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) must invite comments from the public. This is merely a formality for NEMA but in the case of Tana Delta, the stakes are high.

The TISP is a joint project of the Tana & Athi Rivers Development Authority and is to be implemented in an area covering 20,000 ha (50,000 acres) at the heart of the Tana Delta and spanning the Tana River and Lamu Districts inland of Kenya’s northern coastline. According to the proponents of the project, the TISP intends to clear the natural ecosystem that not only supports several unique and threatened species of wildlife but also supports a huge population of pastoralists, whose culture has evolved around the seasonal ebb and flow of the Tana Delta wetlands, to establish fast growing sugarcane plantations. They also plan to establish sugar factories and bio-fuel plants.

The 130,000 ha Delta is Kenya’s largest freshwater wetlands. The Delta ecosystem consists an expansive patchwork of Savannah, forests, beaches, lakes, mangrove swamps and the Tana River itself. It is internationally recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is being lined up for listing in Ramsar International Convention on Wetlands as a Ramsar Site of International Importance. Among unique and rare species included the Tana Red Colubus, the Tana Crested Mangabey (primates), birds such as the Southern Banded Snake-eagle, the Malindi Pipit, and the migratory Basra Reed Warbler. The Tana River Cisticola was recently seen. It is extremely local and on the verge of extinction. At least 13 different species of birds breed in the Delta gathering in numbers exceeding five thousand individuals in these seasons.

Many conservation organisations presented their comments on the EIA which is generally seen to be a shoddy job. EAWLS, Kenya Wetlands Forum, Nature Kenya are among Kenyan NGOs that presented their comments. The local Community Based Organisations (CBOs), also came together and prepared their comments which they presented in solidarity with each other. International organisations such as UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Birdlife International have also joined in.

Generally, all these comments are more in the line of protesting the implementation of the TISP. Majority trash the EIA for its unorthodox process and gross omissions. The capability of the consultants who conducted the EIA is also questioned with all who drafted the comments (most of whom are NEMA-certified EIA experts) scoffing at the inadequacies demonstrated by the obviously unqualified consultants.

The protesting comments have four main points:

1. the socio-economic and livelihood options for the local people - who’ve have co-existed within the ecosystem for centuries - was not fully evaluated

2. the ecological impact of the project on the 20,000 ha and the entire delta (particularly downstream) as assessed in the EIA report is laughably shallow.

3. mitigation measures offered for the destruction of the environment and livelihoods are ambiguous and largely inadequate

4. comparison of the various economic and livelihood options that could be practised on this land (as opposed to sugar plantation) is unclear, inadequate, disruptive and inviable.

After presenting their comments, Kenyan NGOs, CBOs and international partners have proposed the formation of a ‘consultative group’ such as that which was used to lobby the government of Tanzania against Tata Chemical’s soda project on Lake Natron. The group is in its nascent stage and I will be updating you on their progress.

You can help by donating to EAWLS as we require funds to launch a campaign to stop this potentially devastating proposal.

Technorati : Kenya, Tana Delta, agriculture. wildlife, biofuel, sugar, wetlands

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Category: Community, Parks, Wildlife | Date: Jan 31 2008 | By: admin

In the midst of all the humanitarian crisis facing Kenya today - as a result of the disputed December 27 elections - wildlife areas and the natural environment is beginning to suffer. One of the most affected areas is the Mara Triangle which is managed by the Mara Conservancy. The Triangle is currently staring a financial catastrophe owing to the lack of tourists to the area. The Triangle is particularly vulnerable because it depends entirely (100%) on tourism revenue. Dr Leakey has explained the situation in his blog (http://wildlifedirect.org/richardleakey) and called on all to help save the Triangle. Please visit his blog and read what he has to say.

The mushrooming of internally displaced persons’ camps is also taking its toll on forests especially in the Rift Valley Province. The more than 12,000 displaced persons in various camps around Eldoret town are said to be cutting down trees in their search for firewood for cooking and warming themselves.

With the death of two opposition politicians so far - the second having been killed today in what police think is a ‘love triangle’ - even as the mediation talks being led by Kofi Anan started (officially) today, the chances of peace coming back have been dealt a huge blow. We are worried that if these killings continue, the humanitarian crisis will escalate and - even as this is bad enough - the wildlife of this country will suffer too. We know this only too well from the goings on in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the wildlife is caught in the crossfire of warring militia.

We hope that a speedy recovery can be orchestrated for the tourism industry after the fallout that this violence has brought about. The tourism industry is very important to conservation in Kenya.

Technorati : conservation, kenya, politics, violence, wildlife

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Category: Community, Legislation, Swara, Wildlife | Date: Jan 29 2008 | By: admin

Since I last reported on the Furadan issue, not much has been happening really. Two days ago however, I received an email from Darcy Ogada of the National Museums of Kenya’s Bird Committee . She and others have been collecting data about the demise of birds caused by this lethal chemical. They are now preparing a report that will be presented to the Bird Committee. The report will also be discussed during their meeting on 7 February 2008. Darcy has kindly offered to get me a copy of the report. Once I have it I will share the pertinent issues discussed in the report - and - the suggested way forward in dealing with the poisoning threat.

In the meantime, I wish to thank all those who posted comments in my earlier post on this subject. It is particularly interesting to note that the question of sport hunting came up. This has been a hot topic in Kenya. Last year, while the new wildlife law was being discussed, there were clear divisions between those who are pro- and those who are anti-hunting. The comparison of the dollars that could be fetched by trophy-hunting a lion vis-a-vis a lion carcase rotting away after being poisoned would definitely generate some healthy debate.

As for the question of what transpired at the Ministry of Agriculture, I can just say that the matter was ‘mentioned’. There was no adequate discussion of the issue and no action was promised. Our Director, who is currently taking some days off, has however promised to pick up the issue as soon as he comes back to the office. We can not expect much at the moment though as the country is gripped by political and ethnic controversy, tensions, rampant riots and death. It is unlikely that the government is interested in anything else at the moment: especially not some ‘low priority’ affairs such as dead lions.

For those of you who want to help our campaign, you can send donations through this blog. We have a general fund that caters for all our campaigns. We do not spare any resources whenever it becomes all out war against natures enemies and sometimes these resources can become too low as to limit our effectiveness. Go ahead and make your donations. Joining the EAWLS will also help us a lot since your subscriptions not only cater for the publication of SWARA but also support our operations. To join just log on to www.eawildlife.org and go to the membership page. We have a secure page where you can join using your credit card.

All in all, I thank all those who offered additional information and urge all readers to keep alert and inform us how solutions are being sought elsewhere. We at EAWLS will not stop pressuring the government for a solution.

Technorati : Furadan, Kenya, lions, wildlife

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Category: Community, Swara, Wildlife | Date: Jan 11 2008 | By: admin

For those of you who have been visiting the Lion Guardians blog, you are aware that two lions were killed by poisoning in southern Masailand. The lions died after consuming a carcase of a cow that had been laced with poison by the owner. Although this may seem like an isolated incident, it is not. The use of poisons to kill predators is spreading like bush fire in East Africa and if it remains unchecked, it could reach catastrophic levels. Moreover, we could easily wipe out our predator and scavenger population in a very short time.

In the December 2007 issue of Swara Magazine (Vol. 30 No. 4), I wrote a commentary about the widespread use of the chemical carbofuran, commonly known by one of its trade names, Furadan, and the dangers it poses particularly to large predators and vultures. I believe that the chemical used in the incident described in the Lion Guardians blog was Furadan.

Furadan is a highly toxic insecticide/nematicide that is used to kill insects on plantations of food crops (rice, beans etc). In recent times, pastoralists in Kenya and other eastern Africa countries have been using the chemical to poison predators that prey on their livestock with a devastating knock-on effect on Vultures and other scavengers. The problem is prevalent in northern Kenya and is increasingly becoming a case for concern in masailand. It is particularly worrying since Furadan is not being used to get rid of livestock pests such as ticks but for the deliberate elimination of lions, hyenas, cheetahs, leopards, jackals and other predators. Once these have died, vultures will consume them and eventually die of secondary poisoning. Vultures consume up to 70% of all animal biomass.

Furadan is cheap and easily available. You can, for instance, purchase enough of this poison to wipe out the entire lion population in Masailand at slightly more than one US Dollar at any village agro-vet pharmacy. Seamus MacLennan of Lion Guardians bought this amount at KShs 100 (1 dollar and 31 cents) in Emali - a town 200 km from Nairobi in the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway - last year.

The poison works more like nerve-gas by paralysing the nervous system resulting in twitching, trembling, paralysed breathing, convulsions and, if the dose is enough, death. It gets into the body through swallowing, inhaling or touching. Furadan is responsible for the consequential death of millions of birds in the US. Birds which consumed dead grasshoppers and other insects (eliminated using Furadan on croplands) and those which ingested the chemical directly died en masse. in 1989 for instance, 1,985 ducks, 97% of northern pintails and 3% of green-winged teal were found dead in Colusa, California in an area where Furadan had been used.

In Kenya, there was huge outcry after farmers in Mwea (Eastern Province, Kenya) poisoned thousands of ducks and other waterfowl using the chemical. This outcry led to the ban of granular Furadan in the mid 1990s. The flowable or liquid form of Furadan is not registered in Kenya and was thus not affected. It is worrying to see that the chemical has found its way back to pharmacy shelves again. This time with more charismatic targets.

The East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) has taken steps to lobby the government to stop the importation and distribution of this highly dangerous poison. The Director, Ali Kaka, will be taking the case to the Agriculture/Livestock Ministry this week to personally persuade him to withdraw Furadan usage in Kenya. Wildlife Direct, Lion Guardians, the EAWLS and others have joined together to prepare a fact file and petition to be presented to Ministry officials, the Kenya Wildlife Service and other relevant authorities.

We hope we can stop this decimation of wildlife before extinction.

Technorati : Kenya, human-wildlife conflict, masailand

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Category: Community, Lake Ol Bolossat, Wetlands | Date: Nov 01 2007 | By: admin

In the chilly shadows of the Aberdare Ranges in central Kenya lies a tiny lake. Lake Ol Bolossat – the only lake in Kenya’s Central Province – is the source of the Ewaso Narok River which flows silently underground towards the Lorian Swamp before emerging and tumbling down the 75 metres (256 feet) Thomson Falls into the boulder strewn gorge below and eventually joining the Tana River and flowing east into the Indian Ocean.

Lake Ol Bollosat is known for its peculiar habit of drying up and springing back to life in some ambiguous intermittent patterns. This time however, given its current precarious state – environmentalists are worried that if it dries up it may never again come back to life.

That is the reason why between 16 and 17 October 2007 the EAWLS Wetlands Programme Coordinator, Peter Odhiambo, and one of his project assistants, Rashida Suleiman, were out there visiting with the Lake Ol Bolossat Environmental Conservation Network (LOECN), a community group whose goal is to see that the Lake stays alive. Peter and Rashida represented of the Kenya Wetlands Forum (KWF), which has its secretariat at the EAWLS. They were there to assess the status of the lake and to consult with the group on what has been done and what can be done to save the lake in preparation for the forthcoming visit by officials from the Nairobi office of the Netherlands Embassy. The Dutch, have funded a rehabilitation project for the lake and its wetlands since June 2007 and will be visiting the site to assess the project.

Lake Ol Bolossat, located in Nyandarua District, has – like most other lakes – been afflicted by the phenomenal growth in human population taking its toll on natural environments especially in the developing world. The Lake is in the middle of a zone occupied by some of the most industrious agriculturists in kenya – the Gikuyu – although before the Boers settlers were allocated the land in 1932 by the British colonials, the land used to be the grazing land of the maasai. Even today, lone Maasai herdsmen wander with their many cattle all the way from Narok to the Nyandarua grasslands during dry seasons. These massive herds combined with the high maintenance hybrids kept by the Gikuyu people and the hippos that dwell in the lake are straining the riparian grasslands surrounding the lake. Trampling and overgrazing are removing this vital grassy cover to the extent that siltation of the lake is occurring at an unprecedented rate.

The LOECN has been assisted by the Dutch Embassy through the KWF to rehabilitate these grasslands and the adjoining escarpment which – owing to intense agriculture – has lost most of its tree cover. Since June 2007, more than 30,000 trees have been planted with the target for the group being to plant 1.7-million trees. The community group also wishes to improve the aesthetic beauty of the lake and to make it a viable and competitive ecotourism destination.

LOECN has a lot of work to do and they have appealed for assistance from government, NGOs and the caring public to support their efforts. They are particularly constrained in terms of tree seedling bags, transportation of seedlings to the ranges, construction of a central tree nursery, and the establishment of micro-enterprises that will ease pressure on the lakes natural resource (to include a central apiary with 200 beehives, fishponds, and brick making enterprises to substitute timber in home construction). The group also seeks assistance in planting agro-forestry tree species such as Esbania spp which are fast growing as well as economically and ecologically beneficial.

This is a noble effort by a community of rural folk which should be supported by all.

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Category: Community, Lake Jipe, Wetlands | Date: Oct 19 2007 | By: admin

The posts about Lake Jipe and the Disney Wildlife Fund’s donation of funds to support the Year of the Dolphin campaign were well received by you readers and, naturally, you had questions and comments. I would like to thank you all for the comments and respond to your questions.

First, I wish to thank Dipesh for his comment on the Lake Jipe post. Dipesh wanted to know when the Plan will be implemented. Well, Dipesh, as I said the plan is still in its draft phase and it will be some time before implementation begins. Lack of a plan has not however stopped us from working and I can assure you that we have been actively working with communities on the ground to do this important work.

Second, admin(?) wanted to know when all the ‘workshops’ and the wasting of time on ‘draft upon draft will end and the real work of saving this ‘incredibly important ecosystem’ will start. Well, you can rest assured that we are still doing the work even as draft plans are being produced.

Since 2004, we have mobilized more than 10 community groups in Jipe and neighbouring locations who’ve been working hard to save their own resource. We have mainly concentrated on rejuvenating the Lake’s water inlets particularly River Lumi and the Grogan Canal which are the most important inlets for Jipe. We are proud to say that Lake Jipe’s water level has been gradually rising from its typha weed-choked past and that water now flows from Grogan Canal. River Lumi, which had deviated its waters to northern Tanzania, is now feeding water into Lake Jipe.

Below are a couple of pictures from our earlier work involving the local people. As you can see, local stakeholders are the most important players in all the work that we do.

Finally, I express my gratitude to Lisa of Atlanta who is an avid reader of this blog. I particularly wish to thank her for offering to call Disney and make them know that she appreciates their contribution to the plight of Dolphins (I would like to know how that went). Well, Lisa I can’t thank you enough, but I am sure that it is your passion for the salvation of the planet that drives you to be an active participant in this forum. That is the spirit!

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