This book employs a suite of remotely sensed products and advanced
technologies to provide the first comprehensive space-based sensing of
Lake Victoria, the world's second largest freshwater lake that supports
a livelihood of more than 42 million people, modulates regional climate,
but faces myriads of challenges. Proper understanding of the lake and
changes in its physical dynamics (e.g., water level, shorelines and
areal dynamics) resulting from the impacts of climate variation and
climate change as well as anthropogenic (e.g., hydropower and
irrigation) is important for its management as well as for strategic
development before, during and after climate extremes (e.g., floods and
droughts) in order to inform policy formulations, planning and
mitigation measures. Owing to its sheer size, and lack of research
resources commitment by regional governments that hamper its
observations, however, it is a daunting task to undertake studies on
Lake Victoria relying solely on in-situ "boots on the ground"
measurements, which are sparse, missing in most cases, inconsistent or
restricted by governmental red tapes. To unlock the potentials of Lake
Victoria, this book argues for the removal of obsolete Nile treaties
signed between Britain, Egypt and Sudan in the 1920s and 1950s, which
prohibits its utilization by the upstream countries. The book is useful
to those in water resources management and policy formulations,
hydrologists, environmentalists, engineers and researchers.
In a unique cross-disciplinary approach, the Book articulates the
various climatic impacts and explanations from natural and anthropogenic
origins, which affected Lake Victoria and its vicinity, including the
drastic increase and depletion of water level in the Lake and dams,
floods and droughts, water quality/security, crop health, food security,
and economic implications. With no exception as in his many
publications, Joseph L. Awange used data analysis methodologies
including filtering, adjustment theory, and robust statistics, to
quantify the hydrologic and other parameters, and their estimated
uncertainties. The Book is recommended for readers from a diverse
disciplines, including physical and social sciences, policy, law,
engineering, and disaster management. Professor C.K. Shum, Ohio State
University.
