Eva Nyambura
The World Heritage Committee has added Lake Turkana National Parks on the list of World Heritage in Danger, notably because of the impact of a dam on the site.
L.Turkana National Parks are constituted of Sibiloi National Park, the South Island and the Central Island National Parks.
The panel expressed concern over the disruptive effect of Ethiopia’s Gibe III dam on the flow and ecosystem of Lake Turkana and the Kuraz Sugar Development Project, which poses further threat to the site.
The construction of the hydroelectric dam along the Omo River, has seen a significant reduction in the number of fish species in L.Turkana.
This in return poses as a threat to thousands of local residents who could lose the source of their livelihood.
Read: Nairobi National Park Shrinking Due To SGR And Other Human Activities
In June 2011, the Committee put on hold the construction of the dam and requested Ethiopia and Kenya to invite a World Heritage Centre monitoring mission to review the dam’s impact on L.Turkana.
There were also concerns over the reduction in water levels by approximately 1.5m since January 2015.
The Lake Turkana National Parks site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997.
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