Influence of integrated water resource Management approach on the conservation of lake Victoria, Rachuonyo-North, Homabay County, Kenya

Water is a vital natural resource throughout the world, a source of life, the backbone of growth and prosperity. Only 3% of the world's water is fresh water and Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water Lake in the world. It is estimated that more than three billion people worldwide will be suffering from water stress by 2050 according to a UNEP report 2008. Lake Victoria is crucial to the livelihoods of many people in Rachuonyo North Sub-County who have been prone to water shortages since 1980s. The situation is worsened by inadequate and divergent sectoral policies and legislation. Despite the investments made in the water sector by governments, non-governmental organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies and the private sector, water shortages have persisted. Therefore the research will be based in Lake Victoria in Rachuonyo North, Homa bay County, Kenya. The objective of the research was to assess the challenges involved in implementing integrated water resource management approach in the conservation of Lake Victoria. Data was analyzed with help of SPSS version 20 and presented in graphs, charts, and tables. From the data presented, IWRM approach did not influence the conservation of water resources in Lake Victoria Rachuonyo North Homa-bay County because of major challenges still being faced in the conservation of water resources in Lake Victoria like the lack of technical know-how in water resource conservation, different policies and poor funding among other challenges. The study recommends that stakeholders need to engage more closely with each other and with community members, advocacy training and awareness need to be taken more seriously and government officials need to be more present on the ground to ensure implementation and monitoring of the IWRM approach for its success.