The three Lake Turkana national parks have been declared 'World Heritage in Danger' by UNESCO.
This was decided by the UN World Heritage Committee at its recent congress in Manama, Bahrain.
Turkana's three nature reserves, the Sibiloi National Park and the two islands of the lake, which is the world's largest in a desert area, have already been a World Heritage Site since 1997, keeping company with 1091 other sites on Earth in 167 countries.
Not only that, this 250-kilometre-long expanse of water, called the 'Jade Sea' because of the brilliant colour of its waters, is also one of the 'cradles of mankind', certified following the discovery of some fossils at the Koobi Fora site, is located in the heart of the Sibiloi National Park, a place of enchanting beauty and petrified prehistoric forests.
But today, its splendid nature is truly at risk of extinction: global warming and climate change could soon dry up the body of water and cause the disappearance of the crocodile species that are still the most numerous in the world and reach a size hardly found elsewhere in Africa.
Another reason that increased the troubles of the entire reservoir was the construction of the large Ethiopian dam (Italian project, sic!) in the Omo valley. Even the discovery of oil in the vicinity by the oil giant Tullow Oil has certainly not contributed to the maintenance of this absolute paradise, which it would be better to be able to visit before the situation slowly deteriorates.