Download Delineation of Key Biodiversity Areas for Lake Tanganyika

African Great Lakes
Workshop Session:
Delineation of Key
Biodiversity Areas
for Lake
Tanganyika
Entebbe, Uganda
2 May 2017 * ~ 14:00-17:00
Key Biodiversity Areas – KBAs - are sites contributing significantly
to the global persistence of biodiversity
WORKSHOP GOALS
The May 2nd workshop is designed as a step in the process for proposing and evaluating new freshwater KBAs based on
criteria and thresholds outlined under the new IUCN KBA standard published in 2016. The workshop will bring together
species and system experts to evaluate biodiversity data for Lake Tanganyika collected and synthesized to date in the
process, to provide feedback on specific areas that have been identified, to verify where possible whether the species
are present at the required thresholds for the proposed KBAs, and to iteratively refine boundaries of the proposed KBAs,
focal areas, and catchment management zones based on data and working knowledge of the region.
Over the past decade, under the auspices of the of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, the IUCN Species
Survival Commission (SSC) and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), a Joint Task Force on
Biodiversity and Protected Areas has revised the criteria and methodology for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs)
as sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. The IUCN Standard for the Identification of
KBAs, published last year, consolidated input of experts in the IUCN Commissions, Members and Secretariat staff,
conservation organizations, academia, governments, donors and the private sector, and builds on more than 30 years of
experience in identifying important sites for different taxonomic, ecological and thematic subsets of biodiversity.
Current and ongoing approaches to designation of new freshwater KBAs is rooted in the recognition that new strategies
and protection approaches are needed to fully protect freshwater biodiversity. New conservation strategies and tools
are being developed in the context of freshwater KBA development to address the unique challenges presented by
freshwater systems. Over the past year, Conservancy staff have been working with IUCN and other experts to compile
and analyze available spatial data for Lake Tanganyika, to identify candidate KBAs within the lake that have exceptional
potential to qualify for KBA designation criteria and thresholds based on the new KBA standard published in 2016, as
well as having practical potential for application of local and regional management and conservation strategies. We
have approached the task of proposing freshwater KBAs for Lake Tanganyika with the assumption that applying a
combination of existing conceptual and methodological approaches and guidance under the new Standard can readily
be adapted to in-lake delineation of lake catchment management zones, focal areas, and KBAs.
Background. As one of the seven focal basins of interest in
The Nature Conservancy’s AGLR Program, Lake Tanganyika is
the world's second deepest and second largest freshwater
lake by volume. Situated in the western arm of the African
Rift, Lake Tanganyika is about 650 km in length and has an
average width of about 50 km. It contains 17% of the world’s
freshwater and hosts about 2000 species, half of them
endemic to the Tanganyika Basin. As the world’s second
largest (by volume) and second deepest lake, Lake
Tanganyika contains 17% of the world’s freshwater and hosts
about 2,000 species, half of them endemic to the Tanganyika
Basin. Tanganyika is famous for its species of Cichlid fish, with
over 260 species. In addition to a wide variety of charismatic
wildlife that also live in or near the lake, the lake is
documented to harbor numerous rare and/or endemic
mollusks, freshwater crabs, reptiles, amphibians, and even
insects. At the same time, many of the over 10 million
people who have their home in the basin rely directly on the
lake for their livelihoods; it is thus an important area for
conservation both for species and for human use.
As in many parts of the world, pressures are mounting,
threatening the future of natural resources that have
sustained globally-unique animals and plants, human
communities, and nature-based livelihoods here for
generations. Growing challenges outlined in the Lake Tanganyika Authority’s Strategic Action Programme (2012) include
unsustainable fishing, habitat destruction, sedimentation from watershed degradation, invasive species, expansion of
industrial and extractive activities, and increasing pollution. These challenges are made more complex with climate
change impacts that are starting to be felt in the basin. Although about 10 million people reside in the catchment,
industries are few and concentrated in a few locations around the lake. Nonetheless, people inhabit most of the lake’s
shoreline and their activities, domestic and industrial, have begun to affect the water quality in some areas. A range of
activities are increasing that pose challenges and threats to habitat, water quality, and environmental health, including
potential oil and gas extraction and development.
Identifying potential IUCN Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) for the Lake Tanganyika is part of a broader effort by The Nature
Conservancy in collaboration with the Lake Tanganyika Authority and other partners to develop improved tools and
systems for conservation and natural resource management in the Lake Tanganyika basin, and to bring together existing
scientific information in one central platform, a Freshwater Atlas.
The African Great Lakes Region (AGLR) is globally significant as home to almost one third of Earth’s available surface
freshwater and as much as 10% of the world’s freshwater fish species1. Together, lakes within the AGLR are estimated
to contain half of the total fish species recorded on the African continent. The majority of these fish species are
endemic and a significant portion are currently recognized as globally threatened. Safeguarding the region’s natural
heritage is fundamental to the future water security and political and economic stability.
Africa’s Great Lakes, as with other very large freshwater lake systems globally such as the U.S. Great Lakes, are
extremely unique ecosystems both physically and biologically. On the entire globe, there are only 15 lakes with surface
area greater than 5000 square miles; only ~31 with surface area greater than 5000 square kilometers. Of these, Lake
Tanganyika is perhaps the standout star for endemic species, with close to 270 species of cichlids, more than half of
which are endemic to Lake Tanganyika. With such systems, understanding of in-lake habitat processes, stressors, and
delineation of key in-lake protected habitats is critical to their long-term sustainable management and conservation.
1
(Holland and Darwall, 2011