The $700 Billion Question: Can Biodiversity Credits Work for Communities?

A woman smallholder farmer in Kapchorwa (📷UCSD)

At sunrise on the shores of Lake Victoria, Amina steps into a wetland she helped bring back to life. Birds have returned. The water runs clearer. The land is healing.

But a new question is rising with the morning light: now that nature has value, who gets paid?

Five years ago, this land in eastern Uganda was degraded and ignored. Today, it could generate biodiversity credits for global buyers. For Amina, that promise is both opportunity and uncertainty—because in a world chasing nature-positive investments, the real test is no longer restoration. It is who owns the value of nature.

The stakes are massive. The global biodiversity financing gap stands at around US$700 billion per year (UNEP, 2023; UK Government, 2025). Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), countries committed to mobilising at least US$200 billion annually by 2030 (CBD, 2022). Yet flows to developing countries reached only US$29.8 billion in 2023, up from US$13 billion in 2019—progress, but nowhere near the scale required (UK Government, 2025).

Uganda is not waiting. Its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan III (NBSAP III, 2025–2030) puts a price tag on ambition—about US$306.7 million per year—and backs it with a National Biodiversity Finance Plan to close the gap (NEMA, 2025; UNDP BIOFIN, 2024). The direction is clear: mobilise private capital, scale innovative finance, and ensure benefits reach the people managing ecosystems (NEMA, 2025).

This is where biodiversity credit markets enter—with promise and risk.

In Amina’s community, a proposal is on the table: turn their restored wetland into tradable biodiversity credits. The logic is simple: measure ecological gains, verify them, and sell them. Global capital meets local conservation.

But the details tell a different story.

• Who owns the credits?
• Who sets the price?
• Who carries the risk if the ecosystem fails?

And most importantly: who captures the value?

Right now, the system is not designed in favour of communities. In 2023, only about US$1.1 billion reached Indigenous Peoples and local communities, despite their central role as stewards of biodiversity (UK Government, 2025). Most finance remains externally controlled, with local actors positioned at the bottom of the value chain (UNDP BIOFIN, 2024).

If East Africa gets this wrong, biodiversity credits will simply become the next extractive market—green in label, unequal in practice.

If it gets it right, it can become a breakthrough tool for financing nature and equity.

That line will be drawn by how partnerships are structured.

First of all, ownership is non-negotiable. Uganda’s NBSAP III is explicit—biodiversity governance must be inclusive and equitable (NEMA, 2025). Communities must hold clear rights over land, data, and the ecological outcomes they generate. Without this, credits are just another commodity extracted from rural landscapes.

Secondly, benefit-sharing must be real. Not short-term project payments, but long-term income tied to ecosystem performance. Transparent pricing. Fair contracts. Revenue models that reward stewardship—not just labour.

Thirdly, integrity determines value. Biodiversity credits only work if they are credible. That means strong baselines, independent verification, and enforceable standards (OECD, 2023). Weak systems will collapse trust—and with it, the market.

Fourthly,  public finance must unlock private capital. Blended finance is not optional. It is the bridge. Globally, around US$1.7 billion in private biodiversity finance was mobilised in 2023 through public leverage mechanisms—a signal of momentum, but still early-stage (Finance for Biodiversity Initiative, 2025). Scaling requires governments to de-risk markets so communities can participate, not just observe.

Back in the wetland, Amina’s reality is simple. The frogs are louder. The soil holds water again. The ecosystem is recovering.

Now the system around it must catch up.

Because “acting locally for global impact” is the theme of the International Biodiversity Day 2026, it will only mean something if local actors are not just restoring nature, but owning its value.

That is the real test for East Africa. Not whether biodiversity can be priced.

But whether it can be priced fairly.

References:

• CBD (2022) Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Target 19
• Finance for Biodiversity Initiative (2025) Trends in Private Biodiversity Finance
• NEMA (2025) Uganda National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan III (2025–2030)
• OECD (2023) Scaling Up Biodiversity-Positive Incentives
• UK Government (2025) Biodiversity Finance Trends Dashboard
• UNEP (2023) State of Finance for Nature
• UNDP BIOFIN (2024) Uganda National Biodiversity Finance Plan

Shared Waters, Shared Responsibility: Building a Circular Blue Economy on Lake Victoria

 

The floating solar-powered lamp in position to attract the silver fish. The lamps are placed just after sunset to provide light that attracts the silver fish to the surface. Later, the fishermen spread their nets below the light to catch the fish 

(📷: waterjournalistsafrica.com, 2021)

At dawn on the shores of Lake Victoria in Homa Bay, Kenya, Juma wipes rainwater from his face as he pulls in his fishing nets. The catch is smaller than it was five years ago. Beside him, his son carefully lifts a floating solar lamp from the canoe — a fragile but important tool that now helps the family fish through the night without relying on expensive kerosene. Across the lake in Mwanza, Tanzania, Rehema turns rows of silver fish (locally known as dagaa) drying under a solar-powered tent while calculating whether today’s earnings will cover school fees. In Uganda’s Kalangala Islands, Moses studies the darkening clouds before setting off onto increasingly unpredictable waters.

Though separated by borders, their stories are connected by one reality: Lake Victoria is changing, and so must the livelihoods that depend on it.

For generations, fishing communities around Africa’s largest lake have relied on kerosene lanterns and battery-powered lamps to attract omena and dagaa during night fishing. But those technologies have come at a heavy price. Rising fuel costs, toxic battery waste, fire risks, and pollution have steadily increased pressure on a lake that already supports more than 40 million people across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (Siemens Stiftung, 2024).

Today, solar fishing lights and other environmentally friendly fishing technologies are emerging as part of a growing effort to make fisheries on Lake Victoria more sustainable and climate resilient. Yet their real promise goes beyond clean energy. They also represent an opportunity to build a more circular economy around the lake — one where materials are reused, waste is reduced, and natural resources are protected instead of depleted.

That matters because Lake Victoria’s environmental crisis is not only about overfishing. It is also about how communities produce, consume, and dispose of materials. Discarded fishing nets, damaged batteries, plastic waste, untreated industrial discharge, and poor waste management practices continue to pollute shorelines and waterways.

Hence, the transition to solar fishing technologies is not simply about replacing kerosene lamps and lead-acid batteries. It is about rethinking how Lake Victoria’s fisheries economy produces, uses, repairs, and disposes of resources in ways that protect both livelihoods and ecosystems.

Solar Fishing Lights Gain Ground — Unevenly

Projects such as WePower – WeTu in Kenya are beginning to show how cleaner and more circular approaches can work in practice. WePower’s approach involves taking deliberate steps, starting with introducing solar-charged fishing lanterns and eco-friendly floaters. By renting our lanterns to their clients, WePower – WeTu  takes care of the charging and maintenance of our products to ensure quality and an environmentally sound reuse and recycling process. Their solar-powered lanterns are designed to last longer, reduce fuel dependency, and lower heavy-metal pollution caused by disposable batteries (Siemens Stiftung, 2024).

However, a regional study by the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO, 2024) revealed that over 90% of fishers in Kenya and Tanzania are using battery-powered solar lights, while in Uganda, the use of Solar lights was slowed down by a ban following a claim that it leads to catching of immature Nile perch. However, this was overturned after a study by the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NAFIRRI) that found usage of electric solar lamps during fishing on water bodies to be safe and environmentally friendly.  

But Dr Brian Isabirye, Commissioner in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, revealed the Ugandan government will not rush to ban the usage of paraffin lanterns, but would instead promote the use of electric solar lights, increase access and facilitate loans to enable fishermen to acquire the lighting systems. “We shall not ban the use of kerosene lanterns now, but rather encourage the fishermen to access the solar lights. We shall work with the traders and the entire private sector to provide the lights to the fishing communities,” he added (The Daily Monitor, August 14, 2023).

In Tanzania, the Fisheries Union Organisation (FUO), based in Mwanza region, Tanzania, working together with Sagar Energy Solutions Co. Ltd, through dialogue-based community meetings, reached out to more than 500 community members on the islands of Ito, Nfulubizi, and Ikulu in Buchosa District, who  expressed concern over the misuse of lead-acid batteries in fishing activities. 

At the same time, FUO introduced the option of solar-powered fishing lights to them as a safer, clean-energy alternative that reduces toxic exposure and protects aquatic life. FUO warns that ‘Used batteries are often discarded directly into the lake or placed carelessly near fish after harvesting, allowing toxic chemicals and heavy metals to contaminate water and fish consumed by communities’. Many participants reported that the sessions had corrected previous misconceptions about solar lamps, especially regarding their durability, effectiveness, and economic benefits.

Circularity opportunities from the use of solar lights

Repairing solar lamps, recycling batteries, reusing fishing materials, and developing local maintenance systems can create jobs for young people around the lake while reducing waste. This is in addition to fish waste itself, which is already being reused as organic fertiliser, animal feed, or biogas instead of being discarded into waterways. In the Lake Victoria basin, where youth unemployment remains high, these circular economy opportunities could strengthen livelihoods beyond fishing alone.

For families like Juma’s, the benefits are practical and immediate. Solar lamps reduce spending on kerosene, improve visibility at night, and reduce exposure to smoke and toxic fumes. Researchers from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KEMFRI) have also found that LED solar lights can attract fish more efficiently because the light penetrates deeper into the water than traditional kerosene lanterns (The Star Kenya, 2024). According to WePower – WeTu, by the end of 2024, over 430 fishermen across three counties in Western Kenya’s Lake Victoria region had adopted solar fishing lanterns, thereby promoting efficient and sustainable fishing of silverfish.

‘This innovation has enhanced safety and productivity in night-time fishing while reducing reliance on harmful kerosene lamps and lead-acid batteries, WePower – WeTu’s 2024 Report notes in part.

Barriers to the adoption of solar fishing technologies

Yet despite growing interest, access to solar fishing technologies remains deeply unequal across the lake basin.

For example, Moses explains that purchasing solar fishing equipment still requires money that many fishing households simply do not have. A boat may need several solar lamps every night, and replacing damaged batteries or lighting systems can cost more than a family earns in weeks.

Although East African governments have promoted renewable energy in recent years, fishers and cooperatives argue that solar fishing equipment still faces high taxes, import duties, and transport costs that keep prices unaffordable for poorer communities (IEA, 2025).

The absence of targeted tax exemptions and import duty relief for solar fishing technologies has become a growing frustration around the lake. Many fishers believe governments treat solar fishing tools as luxury products instead of essential livelihood equipment. As a result, cleaner technologies remain concentrated among wealthier boat owners, while poorer fishers continue relying on cheaper but more polluting kerosene systems.

In this regard, FUO and its partners continue to call upon the Tanzanian Government, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), and all relevant authorities to take immediate action by removing taxes on solar fishing lights to protect public health, preserve the Lake Victoria ecosystem, and promote safe, sustainable fishing practices for present and future generations. ‘The adoption of solar fishing lights continues to face serious challenges because battery-powered lights remain cheaper on the market, while solar lights are heavily affected by import duties and taxes', FUO emphasises in one of its public statements.

Beyond the use of solar lights, wider Lake Victoria challenges persist

Other barriers persist, too. Some landing sites lack charging infrastructure, maintenance services, spare parts, recycling systems, or access to affordable financing. Theft of solar equipment has also discouraged adoption in certain fishing communities. Without stronger circular systems for repair, reuse, and recycling, even green technologies risk creating new waste challenges in the future.

And even where green technologies are adopted, they cannot solve the Lake’s deeper environmental crisis on their own.

Fish stocks continue to decline due to overfishing, illegal fishing gear, pollution, invasive species, and climate change. Plastic waste washes onto beaches after heavy rains, while unpredictable weather patterns make fishing seasons increasingly dangerous and uncertain (Associated Press, 2023). Rising water temperatures and ecosystem degradation are also threatening biodiversity and food security across the basin.

These realities reflect broader concerns raised in the latest UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025. According to the report, only 35% of global SDG targets are currently on track or making moderate progress, while nearly half are progressing too slowly and 18% have regressed (UN DESA, 2025). Progress on SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 14 (Life below Water) remains particularly uneven in many developing regions, including East Africa.

As the region warms up to the Lake Victoria Day 2026 celebrations in Mwanza, these conversations are becoming more urgent. The event is expected to spotlight renewable energy, sustainable fisheries, environmental conservation, and community-led solutions across the lake basin.

But Lake Victoria Day should be more than a celebration. It should be a turning point.

This is because Lake Victoria is not just a body of water. It is food, transport, employment, culture, and identity for millions of East Africans. Protecting it requires more than pilot projects and speeches. It requires governments to invest seriously in affordable green technologies, remove taxes and import barriers on solar fishing equipment, strengthen fisheries governance, and support circular economy solutions that reduce waste while creating jobs and protecting ecosystems.

Communities around the lake are already showing willingness to adapt. Fishers like Juma, Rehema, and Moses are proving that sustainability and circularity are possible when innovation meets local knowledge and lived realities.

The real question ahead of Lake Victoria Day 2026 is whether policymakers, businesses, and development partners are willing to match that commitment.

It is therefore imperative for Governments to allow  targeted tax exemptions for certified solar fishing equipment, enforce regional standards for safe battery disposal and recycling, and support concessional financing for fishing cooperatives and groups and incentivise investment in community-based repair and maintenance centres across landing sites.

The truth is that the future of Lake Victoria will not be secured by technology alone. It will depend on whether East Africa chooses to build a circular and inclusive blue economy that places its people — and the waters that sustain them — at the centre of development.

References

1. Associated Press. (2023). Pollution and environmental pressure on Lake Victoria.
2. International Energy Agency (IEA). (2025). Tax Incentives for Renewable Energy.
3. Fisheries Union Organisation:  www.fuo.or.tz (Taasisi ya Muungano wa Wavuvi) and statements to the Government of Tanzania
4. Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO). (2023). Sustainable Fishing Technologies Programme.
5. Siemens Stiftung. (2024). WePower: Clean solar lamps for fishermen at Lake Victoria.
6. The Star Kenya. (2024). Solar lights changing lives of Lake Victoria fishermen.
7. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). (2025). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025.
8. The Daily Monitor (August 14, 2023). New research okays solar light for fishing
9. WePower – WeTu: https://wetu.co.ke/wepower/

Shared Waters, Shared Responsibility: Turning Lake Victoria into a Green Growth Engine

Traditional fishing gear along wetlands in Kalungu District, Uganda (📷UCSD)

At first light on the shores of Lake Victoria in Busia, where Uganda meets Kenya, Owino pushes his canoe into the water. The lake has fed his family for generations. But today, his catch is smaller, the shoreline dirtier, and the rains less predictable. Still, he rows out—because the lake is not just water. It is life, identity, and hope.

On 21 May 2026, leaders, activists, and communities will gather in Tanzania’s Mwanza Region for the inaugural Lake Victoria Day under the theme: “Shared Waters, Shared Future: Uniting for a Sustainable Lake Victoria Basin.” But beyond the speeches lies a harder reality: the future of the lake is inseparable from the region’s progress—or failure—on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with only a few years left to 2030.

A critical moment comes even earlier. From 18–19 May 2026, a Stakeholders’ Forum will bring together civil society, utilities, youth and women’s groups, and practitioners from across the basin. This must not become another talk shop. It should surface what is already working—and agree on how to scale it across borders.

Across the Lake Victoria Basin—home to an estimated 35–40 million people—progress is stalling where it matters most: jobs, clean water, and livable cities (African Great Lakes Information Platform, 2023). Population growth is accelerating, especially in lakeside cities such as Kisumu, Kampala, and Mwanza. Informal settlements are expanding, exposing a widening housing gap and overstretched urban services (UN-Habitat, 2022).

For families like Owino’s, this growth brings both opportunity and pressure: more markets for fish, but also more pollution, more competition, and no safety net.

And the lake itself reflects this strain.

Untreated waste and agricultural runoff are degrading water quality and fuelling invasive species such as water hyacinth. Fisheries that once sustained millions are under growing pressure from overexploitation. Climate change is intensifying floods and droughts, disrupting livelihoods across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. These are not isolated environmental problems—they are the visible symptoms of deeper development failures across interconnected SDGs: poverty (SDG 1), sustainable cities (SDG 11), climate action (SDG 13), and life below water (SDG 14) (United Nations, 2023).

A Green Growth Opportunity

Yet within this crisis lies a powerful—and often overlooked—opportunity: green industrialisation.

The Lake Victoria Basin is uniquely positioned to become a hub for sustainable, job-rich industries. Its vast water resources, strategic location, and rapidly growing population create the conditions for new pathways of inclusive growth. Sustainable aquaculture, fish processing, agro-based industries, renewable energy, and eco-friendly construction and packaging could generate large numbers of decent, green jobs—particularly for the region’s fast-growing youth workforce (ILO, 2022).

But this transition will not happen by default.

Without deliberate planning, rapid urbanisation and industrial expansion will deepen the very problems they aim to solve. Poorly planned housing will continue to encroach on wetlands that naturally filter the lake’s water. Informal industries will keep discharging untreated waste into the lake. Growth, in other words, can either restore the lake or accelerate its decline.

So what does a “shared future” really mean in this context?

It is not a slogan. It is a set of hard choices.

• Protect wetlands or lose water quality.
• Formalise industry or accept rising pollution.
• Invest in green jobs or absorb growing youth unemployment.

A shared future means aligning population growth, urban development, and industrialisation with sustainability. It means investing in affordable, green housing that protects ecosystems while improving living conditions. It means building sustainable aquaculture value chains that can meet strong regional and global demand. It means supporting small and medium enterprises to adopt cleaner production and circular economy practices—for example, turning organic waste from the fast-growing urban areas into fertiliser that supports regional ecological agriculture.

Above all, it means ensuring that communities like Owino’s are not left behind, but are central to this transformation.

It also means recognising that progress in the basin cannot be achieved through isolated national efforts. The lake already teaches this lesson: pollution crosses borders, fish stocks migrate, and economic opportunities are shared. Solutions must do the same.

Back on the water, Owino pulls in his net. The catch is modest, but he notices small shifts: fewer plastic bottles drifting by, more fishers respecting breeding zones, and new buyers asking for sustainably sourced fish. His niece, once unemployed, now works with a local enterprise in Kisumu that is turning water hyacinth into organic fertiliser inputs.

It is still fragile. But it is no longer just survival—it is the beginning of a different kind of economy.

Lake Victoria is no longer just an environmental concern. It is a test of whether East Africa can align growth with sustainability. The choices made now—on urban planning, housing, and industrialisation—will determine whether the basin becomes a green growth engine or a slow-moving crisis.

If it gets this right, it can become a model for the continent.
If it doesn’t, it will quietly become a warning.

And if the lake thrives, so too will the millions who depend on it.

References:

·         African Great Lakes Information Platform (2023)

·         UN-Habitat (2022) Urbanisation and Housing in East Africa

·         United Nations (2023) SDG Progress Report

·         ILO (2022) Green Jobs in Africa Report