Lake Afdera: a threatened saline lake in Ethiopia

Abstract

Lake Afdera is a saline lake located in the Afar region, Northern Ethiopia. Because of its inaccessibility it is one of the least studied lakes of the country. It supports life including three species of fish of which two are endemic. Recently, reports are coming out that this lake is used for salt extraction. This paper gives some insight on the most probable dangers on the ecology of the lake if such activity is allowed to take place before environmental impact assessment was conducted.

SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science Vol. 24, No. 1 (June 2001), pp. 127-131




Key words/phrases: Afdera, conservation, Ethiopia, fishes, saline lake