The Lake Edward system in East Africa comprises lakes Edward and George, the Kazinga Channel that connects these two lakes, several inflowing rivers and some crater lakes. Lake Edward has a surface area of 2325 km2, a maximum depth ofca. 117 m, and is situated in the western arm of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Uganda. shoreline. The 40 km long Kazinga Channel connects Lake Edward with the smaller Lake George, which has a surface area of 250 km2 and a depth of about 3 m across much of the lake. Lake Edward is unique amongst the East African Great Lakes as it is completely surrounded by protected areas: the Virunga National Park on the Congolese side and the Queen Elisabeth National Park on the Ugandan side. The Virunga National Park is Africa’s oldest national park, established in 1925. The western part of Lake George is also surrounded by the QENP. In its southern reaches, the system comprises the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), whereas in the north, it includes the Ruwenzori Mountains National Park and the Kibale National Park. Hence, in total, about 33% of the drainage system is located within national parks. The limnology, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of this system has remained largely understudied. HIPE (Human impacts on ecosystem health and resources of Lake Edward) is a multi-disciplinary project bringing together research teams from 3 Belgian Institutions (University of Liège, KU Leuven and Royal Museum for Central Africa) and two International Institutions (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature [DRC] and National Fisheries Resources Research Institute [Uganda]). HIPE combines the expertise of researchers in biology, ecology, biogeochemistry, limnology, fisheries and socio-economics. The main objective of HIPE is to test the causal relationship between the recent environmental changes and the drastic reduction of fisheries productivity using innovative paleo-proxies coupled to a study of the present lake functioning. Assessing the validity of the various hypotheses, linked to a better understanding of ecosystem function and a thorough estimation of the socio-economic benefits, will help to develop appropriate management actions to mitigate present and future impacts. Our working hypothesis is that several environmental pressures in the area have disrupted the biogeochemical, structural and functional links between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the region, leading to a collapse of the main ecosystem service provided by Lake Edward. HIPE relies on new in situ sampling but also on the valorization of existing collections hosted e.g. in Belgian Federal Scientific Institutions (RMCA and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), and on a field socio-economic survey allowing to quantify ecosystem goods and services of Lake Edward and its relevance for society, in view of a better conservation by managers and policy makers. HIPE is structured into five workpackages (WPs). WP1 investigates the changes and drivers of change of ecosystem functioning during the recent past (<100 years) based on the analysis of sediment cores, archived bivalve shells and fish specimens using a.o. stable isotopes analysis and various ratios of bio-chemical elements. WP2 is based on new field measurements of standing stocks and ecological processes to describe ecosystem energy and matter flows, and trophic flows through the food web. WP3 concentrates on the fish biodiversity, biology and ecology. Classical taxonomical identifications of fish species are complemented by DNA barcoding techniques. Morphometric and genetic tools are used to solve taxonomic problems. The food regime of the economically most important fish species are determined based on gut content analysis in parallel to stable isotope analysis. Haplochromine cichlid species (that are becoming important in sustaining fish catch due to overfishing on other species) will also be studied. Population structuring of the economically important fish species stocks will be evaluated with microsats. WP4 evaluates the ecosystem services mainly focusing on fisheries, through a compilation of recent and historical fish catch data. WP5 includes the integration and coordination of the different WPs, and will play a major role in the dissemination of the results and knowledge to the end-users. The Museum is responsible for the research components on the fish diversity.