THE RISING WATERS OF LAKE TANGANYIKA AND THEIR IMPACT ON SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF THE TOWN OF KALEMIE, TANGANYIKA PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Lake Tanganyika is one of the lakes in the African Great Lakes region. It stretches over 4 countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia. Goods and people move through these 4 countries via ports, the most important of which are: Kalemie in the DRC, Bujumbura in Burundi, Kigoma in Tanzania and Mpulungu in Zambia. In terms of surface area, Lake Tanganyika is the second largest lake in Africa after Lake Victoria; in terms of depth, it is the second deepest in the world after Lake Baikal in Russia; and in terms of length, it is the longest freshwater lake in the world at 677 km. From March 2024 to October 2024, the waters of Lake Tanganyika began to rise to alarming levels, becoming very harmful to the population. Many houses, beaches, nightclubs, schools, churches and businesses were swallowed up by the waters of the lake, a real natural calamity, a complex phenomenon with serious consequences for the lives of the people living along its shores. The causes of this rise are multiple, including climate change (39%), persistent heavy rains (20%) followed by human activities (19%), waste dumped in the lake (9%), and others even speak of God's wrath (13%). All these factors combined are gradually raising the waters of Lake Tanganyika to alarming and dangerous levels. The extent of the socio-economic and humanitarian damage caused by the rising waters of Lake Tanganyika is clear for all to see. Among the many consequences are: destruction of infrastructure (67%), massive population displacement (16%), housing problems (7%), slowdown of economic activities (6%) and job losses (4%).