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Biodiversity in Lake Victoria Faces Extinction Threat

A fisherman takes his boat out on Lake Victoria. (Reuters)
A fisherman takes his boat out on Lake Victoria. (Reuters)
    Nairobi, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Biodiversity in Lake Victoria Faces Extinction Threat

A fisherman takes his boat out on Lake Victoria. (Reuters)
A fisherman takes his boat out on Lake Victoria. (Reuters)

A new study published on Monday revealed that three quarters of freshwater species living in East Africa’s Lake Victoria basin face the threat of extinction

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed that 76 percent of these creatures, including freshwater species like fish, mollusks, dragonflies, crabs and aquatic plants living in Victoria Lake and its surrounding, area are endangered.

The study noted that industry and agriculture have polluted the lake, and blamed over-fishing as well, the German News Agency reported.

Will Darwall, a co-author in the study, and head of the IUCN’s freshwater biodiversity unit said that the effects on communities that depend on the lake for their livelihoods could be disastrous.

According to the World Bank’s estimates, over 40 million people in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda directly or indirectly rely on the lake.

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New Delhi Vows to Flatten Monster Garbage Pile in Indian Capital

New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File
New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File
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New Delhi Vows to Flatten Monster Garbage Pile in Indian Capital

New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File
New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File

India's capital New Delhi has vowed to clear one of its largest trash piles by next year as part of a plan to eradicate unsightly landfills dotting the megacity's skyline.

Around 32 million people live in greater Delhi, where a slipshod approach to waste management has left numerous landfills with garbage piled up to 60 meters (200 feet) high and visible from miles away.

Regular spot fires during the capital's long and intense summer see the trash mounds turn into toxic conflagrations spilling dangerous chemical fumes into nearby neighborhoods, reported AFP.

Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters Tuesday that work was underway to process and dispose of waste at one of the city's biggest trash piles.

By the end of the year, waste at the Bhalswa dump on the city's northern outskirts "will be reduced to a point where it will no longer be visible" from a distance, he said.

"Our ultimate aim is to ensure that no new garbage mountains are formed," he added.

Local neighborhoods around the Bhalswa landfill are home to thousands of Delhi's poorest residents who have migrated from grinding rural poverty in search of work.

Sirsa said the Bhalswa site would be cleared by March next year with similar remediation work to follow at Delhi's other two main garbage dumps.

According to last reported estimates from 2023, Delhi generates more than 11,000 tons of solid waste each day, according to official estimates in 2023.

More than four million tons of waste sit at the Bhalswa dump according to official estimates.

Untreated domestic waste burns in the landfills during the hot summer months, producing excess methane which further pollutes India's already smog-choked urban centers.