Global Programme of Action Fact Sheet
Eastern Africa
Sewage
In general less than 10 per cent of the population is connected to a functioning
sewerage system. Most sewage is collected in tankers from ‘soakage pits’ and then
discharged into rivers and the coastal zone.
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Hard data is lacking for the region but breakdown products of DDT have been
detected in the coastal waters of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, focused on the Msimbazi
and Kizinga rivers.
Heavy Metals
Again comprehensive and solid data is unavailable. However, high levels of lead and
zinc have been found in the Ungwana and Malindi bays of Kenya.
Oils
There is concern over tar balls on beaches linked with tankers discharging wastes.
The region is an important transit route for oil tankers carrying between 20,000 and
100,000 tonnes of crude annually from the Middle East to Europe and America.
Harbours can experience oil spills with significant impact on coastal wetland habitats,
the last of which was in 2005 in Mombasa, Kenya.
Nutrients
Not considered a big problem in the region.
Sediments
Deforestation, land use changes and erosion are leading to large amounts of sediments
swilling down rivers.
The report highlights Kenya.
The Tana and Athi-Sabaki rivers of Kenya respectively deposit nearly five million
tones and up to 14 million tones of sediments annually into the ocean.
The sediment from the Athi-Sabaki River has extended the beach at Malindi Bay by
100 to 200 metres over the past 10 years.
In contrast the Tana, which now has five major dams, has seen sediment levels
reaching the Indian Ocean fall by around 50 per cent over the past 40 years. This is in
turn the cause of extensive coastal erosion in the Ungwana Bay area.
Coastal and Marine Litter
Over the last 20 years, solid waste in an East African city like Mombasa has risen by
1.6 times. Its population of 665,000 people generates around 220,000 tonnes with
shipping adding around 500 tonnes of solid waste annually.
A similar pattern is seen in Dar es Salaam.
Physical Alteration and Destruction of Habitats
Changes are occurring as a result of several factors including sand mining; impacts of
tourism in some places; destructive fishing practices uprooting features like seagrass
beds, urbanization at the coast and dredging in ports and harbours.