Development of indicators for assessment of Lake Malawi Basin in an Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) framework

Abstract

This paper sought to understand the current state of the management environment of Lake Malawi Basin, deduce a lake vision and develop indicators for assessing Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) in the lake basin. The premise of the study was that targeted indicators are necessary to effectively monitor the lake basin and manage it sustainably. The study focused on the Malawian side of the lake. Interviews, field observations and review of existing lake management and indicator development approaches around the world were the methods employed. It was found that Malawi lacks focus on lakes in its strategies and the existing management of the lake is on a sector-to-sector basis with little coordination. Furthermore, the capacity of lake-related sector institutions is hampered by inadequate resources and unstable flow of funds. It was concluded that the current management of the lake basin is unsustainable and there is need to comprehensively monitor the lake basin as well as formulate and implement management plans and strategies that are based on the knowledge obtained from targeted monitoring. A set of governance indicators was developed taking into account the characteristics of the lake, the values that it offers and the threats that it is facing.