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Fresh Water

WATER = healthy communities + healthy environments + thriving economies

© WWF_Kenya - Austine Okande

Through Integrated Water Resources Management we are tackling water challenges in the Lake Naivasha and Mau-Mara-Serengeti Landscape to support livelihoods, biodiversity and businesses.

WHY DOES IT MATTER

Just three per cent of water on the planet is freshwater, and only about one per cent is readily available for human use.
 
In a society reliant on farming and tourism to sustain livelihoods, natural resources are bound to be adversely depleted and affected, causing drastic environmental degradation in the long run. 

Mara River
The Wildebeest migration in the Mara river,is considered the 8th wonder of the world. More than one million people, businesses and wildlife depend on this critical river for survival.
Unfortunately, the 395 Km long river faces numerous threats affecting both water quality and quantity, most of these are caused by human activities.
© © Martin Harvey / WWF
Lake Naivasha Basin
Lake Naivasha basin is a freshwater lake in the Rift valley, a wetland of international importance, declared a Ramsar Site in 1995. It also forms part of the Aberdares, one of Kenya's major water towers. Its economy is anchored on the horticultural sector which employs over 50,000 people directly and indirectly.
The Basin faces many challenges in a unique blend of biodiversity, business and livelihoods linked by the essential but finite natural resource of water. Among them unsustainable agriculture, pollution and encroachment on riparian reserves.
© WWF_Kenya
Lake Kenyatta
A very important water resource in Lamu county. The lake supports more than 100,000 people and more than two million livestock and wildlife. Despite sustaining and powering Lamu’s lifeblood, it faces myriad of threats affecting water quality and quantity, due to pollution and encroachment of catchment and riparian zones.
© WWF-KENYA
WHAT IS WWF- KENYA DOING?

We work with partners in the Lake Naivasha Basin which hosts over 50 large-scale horticultural farms mostly for export, over 30,000 subsistence and local markets smallholder farms.

Through the Lake Naivasha Basin reforestation and an afforestation initiative with a carbon credit component, we are supporting small holder farmers within the basin to promote creation of new forests in farmlands, rehabilitation of natural vegetation and improved water resource management. While at the same time promoting sustainable consumption and production practices , creating green jobs and reducing poverty through the Green Horticulture at Lake Naivasha (GOALAN) project.

We are addressing water related challenges in the Mara basin-the only reliable source of surface water in the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem and a lifeline to the Eighth Wonder of the World - TheGreat Wildebeest Migration.

In coastal Kenya, we are working with communities and partners to enhance quantity and quality of water in Lake Kenyatta in Lamu and River Mkurumudzi in Kwale. Access to clean, safe and reliable freshwater for people, ecosystems and local industries is key in achieving sustainable development goals.

We empower Water Resources Authorities and local Water Resources Management institutions to work together to implement effective water resources management system and initiate focused water regulatory interventions such as restoration of degraded key headwaters and riparian areas, developing Water Allocation Plans to guide water use in the Basins.

We promote inclusive water stewardship through Public Private Partnerships

WHAT CAN YOU DO

We all have a relationship with water. The very fabric of life. You can change our water story