A recent article in the news tells about the Itare Dam, a foreign direct investment dam planned in the Mau Forest that will impact the headwaters of the Mara River. The article claims that the government did not conduct a prior consultation with the residents of the area and that water is in danger of diversion from 12 rivers that originate in the area. The article also points out that this diversion threatens the ecosystems and economic basis of tourism currently afforded in the Maasai Mara. As Serengeti is just across the political border, this sentiment also extends to the fragile ecosystems contained in the Serengeti as well.
Loss of natural water flow in wild rivers has changed ecosystems and socio-cultural community networks all over the world. Itari is one of several dams planned for the waters in the west of Kenya. The World Bank under the guise of the Nile Basin Initiative, has been conducting feasibility studies on waterways all over the Nile Basin. They have identified at least two viable sites for dam construction in the Mara River Basin in Kenya. These projects are designed to generate hydropower and help with year round irrigation efforts for local farms. But as corporate farms take over more and more of the landscape in East Africa, one starts to wonder who will benefit from this water development in the short and long term.
As scientists with SELVA, we realize that we are in a race against time to cultivate a comprehensive collection of baseline data about the water resources in the Lower Mara River Basin. We are doing this through our field collections both in person and through remote collection. Our work is in collaboration with government bodies in Tanzania, including the Ministry of Water and this partnership allows for this collection to continue after the conclusion of the SELVA Initiative.
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