Lake Victoria Basin Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2023

The Lake Victoria Basin Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan (CCASAP) provides a comprehensive roadmap for addressing and adapting to climate change impacts in the region. This Action Plan serves to provide rationale for a climate change adaptation strategy and linkages this work may have with regional and national policy frameworks.  

The communities around the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) depend on the lake to support agriculture, fisheries and livestock. The lake is the region’s largest inland fishing sanctuary, provides water for domestic and industrial use and power generation, and is a rich biodiversity sanctuary. In recent years, the LVB has seen both excessive and deficient rainfall, which has had a negative impact on the economy. The impacts of climate change are expected to further impact the region with eruptions of epidemic diseases such as malaria, which disrupt healthy systems and impacts infrastructure across the region. 

This strategy document summarizes the expected regional impacts and identifies key measures to effectively address the climate vulnerabilities in five sectors (agriculture and food security; water; terrestrial ecosystems; health; and energy and infrastructure). Many of the potential adverse impacts of climate change can be avoided by improving risk management and implementing integrated adaptive strategies that build resilience across sectors. The CCASAP provides an overall strategy for each thematic sector and identifies key adaptation options that support improved resilience to address current and future vulnerability, ultimately leading to social and economic stability for the entire LVB region.