Lake Albert (Africa) ecosystem

• Category: Inland Aquatic Biomes.
• Geographic Location: Africa.
• Summary: Lake Albert, a component of the African Great Lakes ecosystem, is home to high biological diversity and a source of key socioeconomic benefits to the region.

Lake Albert, a part of the Great Rift Valley of east Africa, was formerly called Lake Mobutu Sese-Seko. It is located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with a length of 100 miles (161 kilometers) and a width of 20 miles (32 kilometers); the surface area is 2,046 square miles (5,300 square kilometers). The depth of the water in Lake Albert reaches 167 feet (51 meters) in some places, while its surface elevation is 2,024 feet (617 meters) above mean sea level. It is the second-largest lake in Uganda and the seventh-largest lake in Africa.

Nearly all of the inflow from the lake drainage basin plus direct precipitation onto the lake itself are lost by evaporation from the lake surface, but the inflow of the Semliki River, which enters the lake from the southwest, accounts for the net gain. This river connects the smaller Lake Edward to Lake Albert after flowing a distance of about 155 miles (250 kilometers) down the Great Rift Valley to the west of Ruwenzori Mountain. Lake Albert is also fed seasonally by the upper reaches of the White Nile River, which loops in and out of its northern tip, and is denoted as the Albert Nile.

The mean annual temperature of the lake region is about 79 degrees F (26 degrees C), and average annual rainfall in the area is 34 to 40 inches (864 to 1,016 millimeters). Because of the high rates of sedimentation and evaporation, the lake water is quite saline and contains free phosphate.

Uganda lies on the eastern, northern, and southern banks of Lake Albert, while the western lakeshore belongs to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Uganda and the DRC share 54 percent and 46 percent of the lake, respectively, and the lake is part of chronic border disputes. Nevertheless, the lake contributes both to the greater region's ecosystem and provides many socioeconomic benefits for the people.

The landscape is shaped by escarpments, forests, savanna, grasslands, wetlands, and deltas; this combination underlies the lake's exceptional biodiversity. Elephants, buffaloes, hippopotami, crocodiles, and antelopes are among the larger animals living in the area, especially on the Semliki Plains south of the lake, and along the northern shores of Lake Albert. The protected areas of Albert Lake in Uganda include one the nation's leading tourist attractions and game reserves, Murchison Falls National Park. Here are found buffaloes, lions, leopards, and elephants in relative abundance. In the DRC, the closest protected area to Lake Albert is Virunga National Park, a World Heritage Site that ranges along the Semliki River and in the Lake Edward environs. Populations of antelopes, crocodiles, elephants, and mountain gorillas are found there.

Human Activity and Environmental Threats

Although the water of Lake Albert is saline, it supports the local human and livestock populations not only by supplying drinking water, but also by income sources and food security to the communities that border it. Indeed, the abundance of salt has itself spawned a minor, if vital, local industry. Lake Albert contains a great variety of fish. Commercial catches, however, are largely comprised of three major species: Alestes baremose, Hydrocynus forskahli, and Lates niloticus.

The region's population is dependent on natural resources or subsistence agriculture, cattle herding, and logging, but those resources have been increasingly stressed by overuse and degradation. Rudimentary methods of natural resource exploitation have increased the pressure on the environment. Security concerns and lack of government structures, particularly on the DRC side, have hindered adequate management of protected areas. As a result, national parks have faced deforestation due to illegal logging and insecurity due to poaching activities.

Planned oil extraction and processing in the area has posed great risk to the environment. Test drilling has begun in Murchison Falls National Park and the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve in Uganda, but no method of handling the resulting toxic wastewater and mud has yet been found. Furthermore, animals have been substantially disturbed by the drilling activities. The operation of a landing site with several flights per day in the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve, the construction of roads to the sites and drilling stations, and the increased population density in the immediate area greatly disturb the animals' breeding grounds. Human in-migration from Uganda and the DRC, the residences and other infrastructure of drilling company employees, and the presence of large military and police forces in this chronically strife-torn area have added pressure. Outside the protected areas, especially on the DRC side of the lake, the situation has become worse; many plants and animals have been threatened or endangered or have gone extinct.

Political Pressures

The loss of fertile land from overgrazing in Uganda has emboldened some of the local population to cross borders; some Congolese in turn let their cattle graze in Uganda, in part to avoid political violence on their side of the frontier. According to a study by the Ugandan Nile Discourse Forum, Ugandan farmers must pay high taxes to cross borders and to receive access to fertile land in the DRC, whereas Congolese migrants are not obliged to pay taxes in Uganda for cattle grazing. This situation causes additional inequalities and suspicion in both population groups.

Furthermore, there has been an ongoing trend of land acquisition by migrants for cattle keeping and other agricultural activities in the areas around Lake Albert. This trend has been a source of conflict and tension. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the powers behind the land acquisitions are investors who want to acquire land with underground oil resources for possible sale or compensation later on, which has made the indigenous people hostile even to genuine migrants.

From a geographic and political perspective, the region reflects major transboundary concerns related to natural resources and bilateral relations. A shared history of conflict, poor livelihoods, border disputes, and recent oil findings in the region jeopardize management of common resources and normal political relations. The occupation of the DRC's eastern district, Ituri, by Ugandan forces between 1998 and 2003 is recalled as a major disruption in the region. Furthermore, environmental degradation linked to oil extraction, as well as increasing pressure on natural resources such as water and land, directly affects the fragile ecosystem and local livelihoods. Despite the initial promises of oil exploration, the Ugandan and Congolese governments as well as their citizenry faced massive conflicts throughout 2007 and 2008 over oil production, border demarcations, and resources that eventually led to a volatile situation. The Ngurdoto Agreement, which was a joint effort by then presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Joseph Kabila of the DRC to reconcile their differences in order ot best utilize and share the resources the lake has to offer, was supposed to protect both countries and benefit the region overall. However, diplomatic relations continued to deteriorate as the search for oil grew more important to the governments of both countries. The conflict between the two nations continued well into the 2020s, particularly as humanitarian crises in the DRC became worse and civil war and unrest caused many citizens to attempt to flee to Uganda. Lake Albert, which offers a pathway between the two nations, has remained at the center of the conflict between them.

Bibliography

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Odada, Eric O. and Daniel O. Olago, eds. The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeolimnology, and Biodiversity. New York: Springer, 2011.

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Nakiyende, Herbert, et al. "Limitations for Informed Decision Making and Better Management of the Transboundary Lake Albert Fisheries Resources." Journal of Great Lakes Research, vol. 49, no. 6, 2023. ScienceDirect, doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2023.02.006. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

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Von Sarnowski, Andrea. The Artisanal Fisheries of Lake Albert and the Problem of Overfishing. Mainz, Germany: Johannes Gutenberg Universitat, 2004.

Westerkamp, Meike and Annabelle Houdret. Peacebuilding Across Lake Albert—Reinforcing Environmental Cooperation Between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Brussels, Belgium: Initiative for Peacebuilding, 2010.