ENVIRONMENT-BURUNDI: Preventing a Lake From Doing a Vanishing Act

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Gabriel Nikundana

BUJUMBURA, Mar 17 2004 (IPS) - One of Burundi’s ecological jewels, Lake Gacamirinda, is in danger of disappearing. The circumstances of this problem provide a case study in what can happen when human and environmental factors combine to affect a natural resource.

Philippe Njoni, Governor of the north-eastern Kirundo province where the lake is located, says the factors causing it to dry up include the drought that ravaged Burundi between 1998 and 2001.

He also cites “the destruction downstream of the papyrus which had been growing in the river and served as a kind of dyke to contain the lake’s waters. The papyrus has been replaced by crops of various types”. These include taro, banana and sorghum, which were planted haphazardly around the lake by people fleeing food shortages in other parts of the country.

A report by a panel of environmental experts who visited the region in January confirms Njoni’s statements. It also notes that the crops being grown in place of the papyrus are causing the ground water around Gacamirinda to be lowered. More than half of the lake is said to have disappeared, an area measuring about 1.25 square kilometres.

Emmanuel Nshimirimana, who works for an environmental group called Biraturaba (“It Concerns Us All”) says, “Growing crops without prior study, the absence of rain in northern Burundi, swift evaporation in the region and frequent rockslides are factors which may contribute to the lake’s total disappearance.” Nshimirimana is also a member of the Evaluation Network for Environmental Impact in the Great Lakes Countries.

The changes in Gacamirinda have had a negative effect on plants and animals which live in what is left of the lake. According to the panel of experts, the drop in water levels has caused the temperature of the remaining water to rise, to the detriment of these creatures.

“The change in the ecosystem introduced a new species of predatory bird (in the lake area) which preys on fish,” says Bonaventure Gakukwe, Director of the Department of Rural Engineering and the Protection of National Resources.

People living alongside the lake are also beginning to feel the effects of its disappearance.

According to Vincent Nzisabira, President of the Water Association in Bugabira district where Gacamirinda is located, clean water is proving ever-harder to get hold of. “People may easily have to walk four to six kilometres to fetch potable water, (as the rest of the lake) has become practically like mud,” he said. Gacamirinda is the fifth-largest lake in Kirundo.

Provincial authorities are now calling for national government to help save the lake – and also developing proposals of their own.

Alphonse Niyongere, from the Deparment of Public Works and Job Creation, says a project to increase the amount of water available in the province will be launched this year: “The studies on supplying…potable water are already in progress.” The project was suggested to government by officials in Bugabira district.

Burundi’s Ministry of the Environment, in its turn, has proposed a program to increase cultivation along the banks of the Akanyaru river, to ease the pressure on Lake Gacamirinidi. But, as the river runs along Burundi’s border with Rwanda, this matter will have to be discussed with Kigali first.

“During the course of the year, we plan to conduct feasibility studies and make diplomatic contact before we begin the project,” said Savatore Ndabirore, a government advisor who is in charge of forestry and watershed development issues.

Kirundo Province, which borders on both Rwanda and Tanzania, encompasses 1,700 square kilometres, 160 of which are made up of lakes. It is a region where many of Burundi’s streams and rivers get replenished – but it is also vulnerable to periodic droughts.