ONE of the largest populations of hippopotamuses in Africa is under threat because of the British appetite for year-round strawberries and cut flowers.

According to scientists, the increasing demand for water to irrigate Kenyan farmland is draining Lake Naivasha and destroying the habitat of the hippos that live there.

They say that within five years the lake may be nothing more than a putrid, muddy pond, and that most of its hippos could be dead.

In the past two years hippo numbers have slumped by more than 25 per cent because of the fall in water levels. In 2004 there were 1,500 but this year there are only 1,100.

Water from the lake — the second largest in Kenya — ensures that the surrounding landscape is the most fertile in the country, sustaining some of the largest flower and vegetable farms in the world.

Cut flowers are the main industry, with roses and carnations the area’s specialities, but the farms surrounding the lake also grow fruit and vegetables for the British market, notably beans and strawberries.

With the growth of horticulture and agriculture has come a six-fold increase in the human population over the past twenty years, creating the demand for even more water.

Simultaneously, according to David Harper, of the University of Leicester, Lake Naivasha has been damaged by the introduction of invasive alien species, including the Louisiana crayfish, which have destroyed plantlife and small animals.

Dr Harper, who has led environmental surveys of the lake for the charity Earthwatch for 17 years, said: “Naivasha is being sacrificed because we require too much water.

“Almost everybody in Europe who has eaten Kenyan beans or Kenyan strawberries, and gazed at Kenyan roses, has bought Naivasha water. It will become a turgid, smelly pond with impoverished communities eking out a living along bare shores.

“The unsustainable extraction of water for agriculture, horticulture, urban and residential water supplies is sucking the lake dry. As the lake becomes smaller and shallower it will become warmer, fuelling the growth of microscopic algae. It is only a matter of time before the lake becomes toxic.”

Water extraction has left the lake half its former size and 3m (10ft) lower than scientists say it should be. It dried out naturally in the 1890s, but the current threat is from interference by human beings.

The combination of extraction, invasive alien species and increased levels of sediment, flowing into the lake from rivers that have lost the papyrus plants that protected them from erosion, is destroying the natural ecology.

Lake Naivasha is a haven for wildlife, including lions, giraffes and hippos. Until farms took over the landscape and water levels fell, it was one of the world’s top ten sites for birds, with more than 350 recorded species. It was also renowned for its sparkling clear water and the papyrus plants and water lilies that could be found at its edges.

Much of this plant life has disappeared, eaten by the crayfish or destroyed by the grazing animals that trample it as they seek the receding waters.

Dr Harper told the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City this month that, “to save Lake Naivasha from ecological collapse”, stiff extraction limits must be set. He added that all use of the water should be paid for by special levies until the lake’s water levels rise enough for sustainable levels of usage.

“We have a long struggle ahead of us. But unless we really start finding solutions there will be no lake left to conserve, and this will be catastrophic for Kenya,” he said.

Lake Naivasha is known among the local Masai people as Nai’posha, or Rough Water, because winds can cause it to become choppy. On its shore lies a conservation centre, started by Joy Adamson, who wrote the Born Free books about Elsa the lioness.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Experts baffled by vanishing sea lions
• CIA caught in a dirty and secretive war
• Double life of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab