Investment opportunities in Lake Tanganyika and Victoria are still limited by security and environmental threats

Mossi called for cooperation among the countries that share the lakes in the sustainable utilization of resources, including the conservation and protection of the delicate ecosystems. Cooperation, she said, was particularly necessary in the areas of joint marketing strategies and promotion of investments and trade in the two basins.

Activities, she highlighted, have included the ongoing joint negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. “Breakthroughs have also been made towards the conclusion of tailor-made trade and investment agreements with the leading world markets, USA, China, India and other strategic markets,” said Mossi.

Despite the EAC’s heavy call for investment, there are outstanding security and environmental issues that need to be addressed. According to Gerson Fumbuka, a maritime security officer at Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) cases of piracy have limited vessels from carrying goods and people in the area, and police remain poorly equipped to handle this threat. The situation, says Fumbuka, is consequently, “a pity in terms of trade and tourism.”

On the other hand, Lake Tanganyika’s biggest threat stems from its rising water temperatures. Geologists from Brown University in the U.S. recently revealed that at 26 degrees Celsius (78.8°F), temperatures are the warmest it’s been for a millennium and a half. This has impacted Tanganyika’s unique ecosystem by affecting necessary nutrients for the lake’s ecosystem.

Three new invasive plant species—Water Hyacinth, Mimosa Diplotricha, and Mimosa Pigra—have also recently been discovered in the lake. An invasive species is an animal or plant that is introduced into a new area where it does not occur naturally. If the introduction occurs without the accompaniment of its pests and diseases that keep the species under control in its natural range and if it is able to survive, establish and spread it can cause damage to biodiversity and peoples’ livelihoods or development. “It is thus a threat to the coasts, wetlands and inflowing waters of Lake Tanganyika in all four riparian countries,” says Henry Mwima, the executive director of Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA).

Source: Lake Tanganyika Authority