Flowers vs. fish.

Farms raising cut flowers for export to Europe are being blamed for depletion of the wildlife in Kenya's Lake Naivasha. Locals say the farms contribute to pollution and falling water levels.

About three dozen such farms, in which carnations, roses, and other popular florists' items are grown in large plastic greenhouses, have been set up around the lake in the past decade. Kenya's horticultural industry brings more than $60 million into that country's economy each year.

Lake Naivasha is a wildlife hotspot, home to giraffes, zebras, antelopes, a once-thriving fishery, and more than 400 bird species.

Tens of thousands of people rely on the lake and its watershed for their livelihoods. Fishermen accuse the flower farms of killing fish stocks through pesticide runoff and the use of giant pumps for irrigation. The pumps deplete the water, while sucking up young fish and eggs. Meanwhile, excess fertilizer from the farms contributes to the spread of the invasive water hyacinth, a destructive exotic plant that spreads rapidly and outcompetes native plants for space and sun light.

The flower farms aren't the only problem facing the lake: the local human population has grown sevenfold in the last two decades, from 50,000 to 350,000. Sewage and other urban runoff add their pollutant load to the beleaguered waters. Meanwhile, deforestation in the Naivasha basin means that more silt runs into the lake.

--AllAfrica.com, 12/2003