Global institutions

There are many government, NGO, CBO, institutions at the global level that are involved in management of natural resources including sustainable use of lakes. These include, among others, those of the United Nations especially the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and Food and Agricultural Organisations (FAO). There are multilateral development agencies such as the World Bank, USAID, DFID, and from many countries that are directly involved in management of resources or that provide financial resources for doing so. There are also non-government organizations that operate at global level such as the International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), among others.

Continental institutions

The AU is the main continental body involved in development and management of natural resources including those of lakes. For instance, there is a Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) at the AU to promote sustainable environmental management and agricultural development including climate change, water, sanitation, and land management with five regional technical offices.

Regional institutions

Many of the lakes are shared by more than one country. Consequently, countries around some of the African lakes have formed regional basin/lake management organisations to coordinate collection of information and data and harmonization of management measures the lakes. These include: Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) for Lake Victoria and its basin; Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) for Lake Victoria; The Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA) for Lake Tanganyika; The Lake Kivu and Rusizi/ Ruzizi River Basin Authority (ABAKIR) for Lake Kivu; Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) for Lake Chad; and The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) for Lake Kariba. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) provides a forum for the countries of the Nile basin to discuss issues of management of the Nile basin resources. It has implemented programs under the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) which has enabled countries sharing lakes Edward and Albert to jointly implement projects on these lakes. There are, however a number of shared African lakes such as Malawi/Nyassa/Niassa and Turkana which do not have specific regional institutions through which management measures can be harmonized and require a system for harmonization of management measures.

Since many of the issues facing the lakes are similar, it would be beneficial for lake management organisations to network with each other and with institutions from lakes with no lake management organisations to generate and share information and data and experiences to reduce transaction costs. These networks could be extended to continental and global levels. This would improve capacity and reduce transaction costs for generation, mobilization of information and data, and implementation of management measures for sustainable use of the lakes up to global levels.

National institutions

The main institutions involved in generating information and implementing management the key demographic, fisheries, Lake habitat, and basic factors that need to be addressed in in sustainable use of lakes at national level include: research, academic and sectors specific management institutions; the National Environment Management Authorities; and The departments responsible for water, fisheries, energy, urban planning, mining, transport and tourism. In many countries actions in management of natural resources take place at the lowest levels of local governments and communities. There are community lake management institutions around many of the African lakes such as Beach Management Units (BMUs) that work with other agencies in promoting sustainable use of the lakes.