Israel to help 14 counties tackle pollution
The Israeli government has offered to help counties bordering Lake Victoria to tackle rampant pollution.
Israeli ambassador Noah Gal Gendler on Friday said his government will collaborate with the nascent Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) in a project targeting 14 counties with an estimated population of 10 million.
While he did not disclose the amount of money involved, Mr Gendler pointed out that the initiative will help the counties clean up environment as they seek to leverage economies and share resources.
“My government is keen to supporting public-private partnership initiatives with a view of improving the livelihoods and promoting entrepreneurial empowerment among the member counties,” he said in Kisumu.
LIVELIHOOD
The envoy, who spoke shortly after holding a consultative meeting with governors and their deputies from five counties at LREB secretariat in Kisumu, also indicated that Israel will support the bloc through various other programmes to enable the organisation to be stable.
Lake Victoria - which is shared by bloc member counties of Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, Homa Bay and Busia - is also a vital resource for the East African region.
Reports by environmental experts have shown that the growing degradation of the lake is due to harmful human practices and failure to implement environmental laws.
Fish stocks have declined, safety of water is poor and growth of water hyacinth has made it difficult for navigation.
WATER HYACINTH
The bloc's chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said Israeli support will be a big boost to the efforts in eradicating the weed, which has threatened the livelihood of hundreds of people.
“We hope to benefit as we seek corporation with Israel on key sectors such as health, agriculture, trade, tourism, health, education, gender issues, women empowerment, financial services, ICT and infrastructure,” he said.
“In our discussions we have agreed to engage further with the Israeli government based on county to county basis. We believe this will help us achieve our development objective as a bloc,” Kakamega Governor added.
CONSERVATION
Israel has built respect for water conservation into its culture as it uses advanced technology to maintain the country’s water loss at below 10 per cent, against the world’s water systems loss of approximately 30 per cent.
Mr Gendler further announced plans to train leading farmers to equip them with skills to establish model farms, which will in turn be used to train other farmers.
He lauded the formation of the bloc, saying it is a good gesture geared towards empowering communities’ economically and alleviating poverty.
LREB is set to unveil a Sh2.8 billion regional bank during a conference in Bomet County in October this year.
The bloc is currently lobbying for support.
Other counties in the bloc include Bungoma, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Nandi, Trans Nzoia and Vihiga.
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