Lake Malawi is one of the ten largest lakes in the world and has a surface area of almost 30,000 km2 – around three quarters the area of Switzerland. It is considered the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa.
The title of “Threatened Lake of the Year” is awarded annually on World Wetlands Day on February 2 to draw attention to a lake or wetland threatened by human encroachment.
Unique fish stocks under pressure
Malawi, with around 19.7 million inhabitants, is one of the poorest countries in the world and has quintupled its population in recent decades. “Meanwhile, the demand for food can hardly be met; the consequences are overfishing, loss of species and pollution of Lake Malawi,” explained Daniel Mwakameka from the Living Lakes partner organization Action for Environmental Sustainability (AfES) in Malawi.
“With 700 to 800 species of cichlids, many of which only occur here and nowhere else in the world, Lake Malawi is one of the ecosystems on earth with the richest fish species,” emphasize the environmentalists. Fish from the lake, which is up to 700 meters deep, now covers around 70 percent of the animal protein requirement in Malawi, putting pressure on fish stocks.
Ecosystem can be saved
In addition, Lake Malawi is very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As rainfall in East Africa has fallen sharply over the past two decades, the lake’s water level has dropped, threatening the livelihoods of millions of local fishermen.
However, the environmentalists from the Global Nature Fund (GNF) and the Living Lakes network emphasize that the ecosystem can still be saved with a targeted catalog of measures – such as remediation of the damaged areas and fish farming in ponds.