Water and livelihood resilience under changing climate(s) and extremes - Inception Report (Makerere University)

A growing body of knowledge recognizes that the water resources in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) are increasingly stressed by global environmental change threatening the survivability of the vulnerable inhabitant population and the ecosystems (Kashaigili et al., 2015; López-Carr et al., 2016; Onyutha et al., 2016). A range of degradative processes signified by insitu unsustainable land use practices, declining water quality, high runoff and soil losses (Lufafa et al., 2003; Majaliwa, 2005) beyond the tolerable levels (< 5 t/ha/yr), land use and land transformations largely conversions from natural cover to small holder farming, increased rural urban transformations, exsitu sediment and nutrient loading into streams and Lakes all contribute to altering the horizontal and vertical water dynamic affecting the biogeochemistry, the ecosystem services and overall livelihoods systems and structures. Consequently, the LVB region is reported to be highly degraded.