A case study of the Lake Naivasha catchment, an area that has recently experienced extreme population and industrial growth.
Over the last fifty years, the Lake Naivasha catchment has seen a seventeen-fold population increase and explosion of aquaculture and the cut flower industry. The lake is an area of significant biodiversity: it is a designated RAMSAR site along the African flyway, a crucial stopover point for migratory waterfowl. Growing concerns about environmental degradation and a 2008-2009 drought spurred the government to create Imarisha Naivasha, an entity that convenes a variety of stakeholders in the name of integrated landscape management.
Imarisha means “improve” in Swahili. The organization’s work is to conserve forests, biodiversity, and key environmental services by helping local industries improve their environmental impacts and by channeling financing to key ecosystem services stewards like up-catchment smallholders to reward good practices. A unique governance structure ensures equal representation for small fishers, vegetable farmers and herders along with the major industrial players.
This brief explores the ways in which the business sector can be further engaged in African landscapes now and in the future.
More Info Financing systems must yield public goods and private financial returns while mitigating investment risks. This brief puts ILM finance into context and provides recommendations for actions to improve financing opportunities in Africa.
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How do landscape initiatives find the financial support they need to get started, maintain operations, and improve outcomes? Who is investing in landscape management now, and what are the barriers to increased investment in the future? This report provides answers.
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