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(Bujumbura, Burundi) — Invasive species can cause significant damage to both biodiversity and productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems. One well‐known example in the region is the invasion of water hyacinth and Nile perch in Lake Victoria in the 1990s, which caused hundreds of fish species to disappear, some to become extinct and the ecosystem to collapse. Surveys have shown that several invasive plants such as water hyacinth and the widespread Mimosa pigra as well as Mimosa diplotricha are already present in the Lake Tanganyika basin, and there are also indications that the Nile tilapia is present, which can have negative impacts on local fish communities and general lake ecology.
The Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA), UNDP/GEF Project on Lake Tanganyika and
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are working together with the
riparian countries Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia to address
the threat of invasive species. To bring key stakeholders in the monitoring and control of
invasive species together, a workshop is being organized from 29 – 31March 2011, in
Bujumbura, Hotel Club du Lac.
Dr. Geoffrey Howard, world expert on invasive species in Africa, and member of the IUCN Invasive Species Initiative states: “In the near future, states will need to improve and expand on a strategy that they have enacted in recent years. The emphasis should be on monitoring as well as management of invasive species – including the developing structure of the monitoring process.”
As part of the workshop, stakeholders from the four countries will review known invasive species and risks in the basin, and discuss ways to monitor, manage and control existing or possible future invasive species threats. One of the possible ways to manage invasive species that will be discussed during the workshop is biological control. Furthermore, awareness raising and regional cooperation are important tools in invasive species control. “States are a crucial link in addressing invasive species, but they cannot act alone,” cautioned an expert from Burundi. It is not too late to manage invasive species in the Lake Tanganyika basin, but action will need to be taken now.
The Lake Tanganyika Authority is a regional organization with the mandate to coordinate
the implementation of the Convention on Sustainable Management of Lake Tanganyika. The
Secretariat of the LTA is based in Bujumbura, Burundi.
For further information, please contact: Alain Gashaka at 25779973131 or
AlainG@unops.org and see www.ltaalt.org
- Dr. Geoffrey Howard and a team of Burundian environmentalists on a field survey to the Rusizi Natural Reserve, which is plagued by invasive species.
- Farmer children holding a branch of Mimosa diplotricha, a highly invasive plant that can be very destructive to local biodiversity.
- Lantana camara invading a river bank.
- Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) invading Lake Tanganyika.