Good News

Good News Indeed.

USAID East Africa Signs Agreement with East African Community's Lake Victoria Basin Commission to Conserve Mara River Basin

A three-year agreement for an estimated three million dollars was signed on September 23 between USAID/East Africa’s Acting Regional Director, Larry Meserve, and the East African Community’s (EAC) Deputy Secretary General for Finance and Administration, Dr. Julius Rotich. Activities to be carried out under the agreement will help ensure that the Mara River Basin, already in jeopardy, is brought under sound management for a long, healthy future. With headwaters in the Mau Forest, the Mara Basin watershed extends from Kenya to northern Tanzania (encompassing Serengeti National Park and the Masai Mara Game Reserve). The Mara River Basin also makes up part of the eastern rim of the larger Lake Victoria Basin area. Wildlife anchoring Kenyan and Tanzanian tourism rely on the healthy functioning of this uniquely integrated and rich ecosystem for their existence--and the survival of this ecosystem depends on the flow of the Mara River. Under the agreement, signed at EAC’s Arusha headquarters, the EAC’s Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) is responsible for facilitating and promoting sustainable cross-border Mara River Basin management. LVBC will also work to increase regional economic growth and integration and reduce poverty in the Mara River Basin. As a regional, intergovernmental organization, the EAC’s LVBC is strategically placed to harmonize policies for the conservation of this globally treasured area.