Healthy wetlands are essential for water and sanitation, for their role in providing water for drinking and sanitation services and for waste filtration. In arid and semi-arid parts of the Africa, healthy ecosystems are often the key factor for access to clean and sufficient water for especially the poor. But these natural water resources are depleted, polluted or degraded in other ways, thereby endangering the health of those depending on them.
- Together with Kenya Wetlands Forum and the National Environmental Management Authority, we supported the development of a Kenya National Policy for the Conservation and Management of Wetlands. Also, we supported the development and adoption of a wetland management plan for Lake Naivasha in Kenya – an important RAMSAR site and biodiversity hotspot for migrating waterbirds.
- In South Sudan we are contributing to the conservation of key biodiversity hotspots in areas such as the Imatong Mountains and Kinnetti catchment by developing the capacity of civil society organisations to engage effectively in the sustainable management and
conservation of biodiversity and their related ecosystems. - In Ethiopia, we are working to conserve wetlands that are the most important for migratory waterbirds, including lakes Abijatta-Shalla and Ziway in the Rift Valley.