The livelihoods of East Africans largely depend on access to and protection of their natural resources, including wildlife. When those resources are threatened, poverty grows. Rising temperatures, fluctuating rainy seasons and extreme weather events affect many in the region, especially those engaged in agriculture, fishing and pastoralism. These factors diminish incomes and impair access to food, health care, electricity, safe drinking water and sanitation services – undermining and potentially reversing development progress.

New Beginnings in Transboundary Water Cooperation

Winding for nearly 14,000 kilometers, the Mara River is a vital source of life in Kenya and Tanzania. The river traverses the towering Mau Forest, wanders through tea plantations and growing settlements in the upper Basin, and waters the rangelands of Maasai pastoral communities. The river also sustains the region’s stunning biodiversity, from forest ecosystems to the wildebeests migrating between Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara National Reserve.

This September, the five-and-a-half year Planning for Resilience in East Africa through Policy, Adaptation, Research, and Economic Development (PREPARED) will come to an end.

Water is a vital resource not just for humans, but also for a variety of aquatic ecosystems, including wetlands, watersheds, rivers, estuaries and coastal areas. The misuse and over-exploitation of water resources is hastening their degradation, and threatening human settlements and the natural resources they depend on.