Corporate Partnerships
The Coca-Cola Company Partnership
Lake Niassa
Facts
A lone fisherman paddles homewards on Lake Malawi.
© WWF-Canon/Sandra MBANEFO OBIAGO
- The Coastal East Africa Ecoregion is comprised of several rivers and lakes that primarily drain to the Indian Ocean or the African great lakes.
- Alternately called Lake Niassa, Lake Nyasa or Lake Malawi, depending on the country, it is the ninth largest lake in the world at 29,609 square kilometers.
- Lake Niassa forms the border of Malawi and Mozambique, and is drained by the Shire River, which flows to the mighty Zambezi.
- The lake is home to over 1,000 species of fish, including hundreds of species of cichlids.
Conservation Issues
- Lake Niassa is threatened by increased sedimentation, timber and firewood harvesting, and overfishing.
- Communities dependent on the river for food and fiber production and tourism are threatened by the river's degradation.
- Lake Niassa formerly was the only lake where people did not contract bilharzias, a disease transmitted by a parasite that millions suffer from in Africa. In the past, cichlid fish populations kept Lake Niassa disease-free. However, an imbalance has been introduced into this relationship and the disease can now be contracted in the lake.
What the Partnership Will Do
- The work in this region centers on securing the livelihoods of local communities and the unique biological diversity of Lake Niassa.
- The goal is to establish a new protected area freshwater reserve in and around the lake, which, when finalized, will represent one of the largest freshwater protected areas in Africa.
