- Visit Friends of Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana is a miraculous anomaly of life-giving water in a parched and unforgiving land. Formed millions of years ago in the tectonic upheavals that created East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, Turkana is the largest permanent desert lake in the world. The lake is home to the world’s largest population of Nile crocodiles, hippos, and hundreds of bird and fish species. Its shores have revealed the oldest-known fossil remains of Homo habilis. Today, more than a quarter million indigenous peoples from at least ten tribes have become masters of wresting sustenance from the harsh landscape. Without the lake, life here would be virtually impossible.
” title=”Indigenous Peoples of the Lower Omo Valley”>Lower Omo Valley supports up to a half million people.
Turkana’s indigenous communities are highly dependent on the lake for their food crops, livestock grazing and watering, and fishing. Any impacts to the lake’s ecosystem would disrupt the economy, leading to an increase in conflicts in the area. Considering the unstable state of peace in Northern Kenya, such damage to the local economies would invoke a threat to regional stability.
Friends of Lake Turkana is calling on the Kenyan government to protect the interests of the peoples of northwest Kenya, and the ecosystems upon which they depend.
“All agreements with the Ethiopian government needs to be made public. We need to know if the impact on Lake Turkana was even considered. The peoples of Lake Turkana must be heard!”
Read the Lake Turkana People’s Declaration
Read FoLT’s Request for Project Investigation
Read Another African Lake Under Threat (World Rivers Review, March 2009)
Spread the word and Save Lake Turkana! on Facebook
Visit the Turkana Basin Institute