Lake Victoria, the world’s second-largest freshwater lake (in surface area) and the largest source of freshwater fish, photographed by Frédéric Noy is at risk of dying from pollution and climate change.
This apocalyptic prophecy concerns a 68,800 square kilometre inland sea - the biggest freshwater 'fishing pond' on the planet. Lake Victoria is a vital ecological pole, the economic engine of the region - a vast natural reservoir which some 30 to 50 million Tanzanians, Ugandans and Kenyans directly and indirectly rely on for their livelihood. The vast majority of the littoral population lives on less than $ 1.25 a day.
'In the next 50 years, if nothing radical is done, Lake Victoria will be dead because of what we are pouring into it' says Professor Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, Governor of Kisumu Province in Kenya.
Yet this huge body of water is suffering multiple assaults on its ecosystems. Global warming affects the distribution of fish and water levels. Ferocious storms that once happened every 15 years are now battering the lake and its shorelines annually. Over-fishing and poaching accentuate the decline in the number and size of catches.
Since life around the lake is so precarious for many, environmental concerns are often overlooked, paling into insignificance in the face of a daily struggle for survival. The reality of daily survival for a growing population often means that resources are managed poorly, leading to further environmental degradation. Everyone realises that times have changed but the wider implications of the ecological collapse are not widely understood. In the past, the world's second largest lake was indefatigable, offering seemingly endless resources. Now, its very survival is in doubt.
