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Waste to wealth

Annika McGinnis
How Kenyan farmers are bringing life back to degraded Lake Victoria swamps.
22.03.2019  |  Kisumu, Kenya
A wetland near the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya. (photo: InfoNile | Annika McGinnis)
A wetland near the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya. (photo: InfoNile | Annika McGinnis)

This story was originally published by InfoNile, a geo-journalism platform mapping data on and reporting about water issues in the Nile Basin.

 

Climate change, farming and dams severely affect Kenya’s wetlands – contributing to the country’s current water crisis and fish shortages.

A three-year project by Ecofinder Kenya, an NGO working in the Winam Gulf Wetlands around Kisumu, offered families living in these Lake Victoria swamps incentives in exchange for them to conserve the wetlands.

These included Ecosan toilets, which convert human and animal waste to biogas energy; solar lamps; and water pumps. Participating households also became “farmer-to-farmer teachers” to share their conservation farming techniques with their neighbours.

After three years, wetland plants grew back and fish returned to the swamps: the swamps were restored.

View the multimedia project on how this solution is working to conserve swamps and benefit communities in Kisumu, Kenya.

 

 
     

 

  

  

     
 
 
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