Lake Victoria — the world's largest tropical lake and Africa's largest — is in trouble. Surface water temperatures have risen by nearly 1°C over the past century, a rate faster than the global average for large water bodies. This warming, combined with nutrient pollution and overfishing, is disrupting the delicate ecological systems that make the lake the productive resource it has always been.
For the women and communities KWDT works with, this is not a future risk. It is a present reality.
What the Science Shows
Research by the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) documents several concerning trends in Lake Victoria's ecology:
- Increasing frequency of hypoxic (low-oxygen) zones in the lake's deeper waters, killing bottom-dwelling species
- Shifts in fish breeding seasons, making traditional fishing calendars unreliable
- Declining Nile perch populations in some zones, affecting the lake's most commercially important species
- Changes in the distribution and abundance of Mukene (silverfish), a critical food security species
Uganda's fisheries contribute approximately 3% of national GDP and provide livelihoods for an estimated 1.2 million people. Any significant decline in fish stocks translates directly into household food insecurity and lost income for some of Uganda's most vulnerable communities.
How KWDT Communities Are Adapting
KWDT's approach to climate adaptation is grounded in a principle that shapes all our work: communities are not passive victims of climate change — they are active problem-solvers when given the tools, knowledge, and social infrastructure to respond.
Practical adaptation strategies being adopted across KWDT's women's groups include:
- Diversification from fishing: 275 women have diversified their livelihoods away from exclusive dependence on fishing, reducing community-wide vulnerability to fish stock fluctuations
- Energy-saving fish smoking kilns: Reducing the charcoal required in fish processing cuts both costs and deforestation pressure on lakeside watersheds
- Integrated agriculture: Combining crop farming with livestock and fruit trees creates multiple income streams that buffer against the seasonality of fishing
- Reforestation: KWDT groups have planted 2,641 multipurpose trees, beginning the process of restoring degraded lakeside buffers that filter run-off into the lake
The Gendered Dimensions of Climate Risk
Climate impacts on fisheries are not gender-neutral. Women who work as fish processors and traders are particularly exposed to climate variability: when fish are scarce, the first casualties are the processing and trading stages — where women predominate — rather than the fishing stage, which remains male-dominated.
KWDT's climate adaptation work therefore centres explicitly on women's economic diversification and resilience — not because the lake's ecology is a women's issue, but because the distribution of climate risk is deeply gendered, and effective responses must be too.
Advocacy Beyond the Lake
KWDT's participation in global water and fisheries governance forums — from the World Water Forum to the UN General Assembly preparatory meetings — reflects our belief that community-level adaptation is necessary but not sufficient. The policy environment that shapes how Lake Victoria is managed must also change.
We will continue to bring the voices of women on the lake's shores into international conversations — until those conversations produce policies that actually serve the communities most at risk.