Lake Victoria, slowly dying
« In 50 years, if nothing is done, Lake Victoria is dead » says Kenyan whistleblower Professor Okeyo. Biggest word freshwater fishing body of water, ecological and economic pole, 30 to 50 million riparians depend on it, nearly 50% of whom live in poverty.
The times are over when Victoria was stronger than humans. Now the largest African lake agonizes imperceptibly. Global warming affects distribution of fish, water level and makes deadly super-storms annual. Over-fishing, poaching accentuate the decline of catches. Militarization of the protection of fishing areas undermines the fisheries sector. Water Hyacinth immobilizes the boats, sand mining destroys the topography. Industrialized cities discharge their wastewater. Population growth erode the wetlands once a natural filter.
Every day, unconsciously, everyone nibbles on the inland sea. How to blame the drudges of East African economic growth, condemned to survive.
Frédéric Noy
Based for 7 years in Uganda, proponent of Slow Journalism and intrigued by the issue of taboo, Frederic Noy led for several years a work on LGBTI minorities in the Great Lakes region. His latest project on Lake Victoria, rewarded with the Visa D’Or Magazine 2019, focus on the dilemma between survival and environmental preservation plaguing the populations living around Lake Victoria, in East Africa.
His reports regularly presented at Visa pour l’Image, have appeared in recent years in many French and international publications. He is currently based in Central Asia.
Exhibition presented within the framework of the Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay.
For more information on the Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay, consult the zoomphotofestival.ca
