Scientists plan to create floating islands of recycled plastic containing papyrus plants to help protect the degraded ecosystems of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley, Kenya.
German trading and tourism company REWE Group is funding a papyrus restoration partnership between UK-owned tea producer and flower grower Finlays and Dr David Harper, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Leicester, which aims to recreate the water-cleansing services of papyrus as artificial floating islands.
The papyrus restoration project is one of several ongoing initiatives in the Lake Naivasha basin being coordinated by the ‘Imarisha Naivasha’ management boardaimed at reversing negative effects of environmental degradation from activities like intensive flower growing.
Papyrus has many commercial uses, but it is a most valuable natural filter for dirty water. A common plant of tropical wetlands, it is capable of acting like a sewage treatment works.
The restoration project at Lake Naivasha entails papyrus being planted in islands made of recycled post-consumer plastics made by a US company Floating Islands Southeast.
Once the papyrus has been planted, the islands will be anchored in the mouth of the main river, the Malewa, to trap silt before it reaches the lake. The roots of papyrus islands also act as important fish nurseries and feeding grounds, while their five-metre tall stems hold a rich biodiversity of birds such as warblers and kingfishers. If the first group of islands is successful, it will be repeated around the lakeshore.
Dr Harper said: “Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake of around 100 km2, and although once crystal clear and surrounded by papyrus, it has suffered badly in the past 30 years. A major factor is that Naivasha has been the fastest growing town in Kenya as a result of the bonanza of horticulture, cut flowers for export, which is now one of Kenya’s top three earners of foreign exchange.
“As job opportunities have grown, the human population has grown more than twenty-fold, and settlements have sprung up in a haphazard fashion, clearing papyrus. In the same 30-year period, the population of buffalo native to the lake has trebled, knocking down the papyrus to eat it.
“Major flower growers are well aware of their responsibilities to the fragile environment of Lake Naivasha, and their reputation amongst consumers in Europe.”
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