Download Africa Atlas Chapter 2

AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment
Transboundary Environmental Issues
 Transboundary
Ecosystems and Protected
Areas
Transboundary Water Resources
 The Congo Basin Forests
 Lake Chad
 Maasai Mara – Serengeti
Protected Areas in East Africa
 Okavango
 W-Arly-Pendjari Parks
Complex
 Lake Victoria
Transboundary Movement of People
 Dadaab Refugee Camp
 The Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park
 The Parrot’s Beak Region
 Mountain Gorilla
Conservation in the Virunga
Heartland
Transboundary Movement of Pollutants
 Southern Sudan: A Survival
Surprise
 Aerosols
 Darfur Conflict
 Dust storms
 Fires
 Carbon monoxide pollution
Transboundary Environmental Issues
Transboundary Ecosystems and
Protected Areas
Transboundary Water Resources
Transboundary Movement of People
Transboundary Movement of Pollutant
Between
1990
and 2004
a 24
few
There
are 15
principal
lakes,
Africa
is one
the world’s
largest
African
countries
expanded
UNHCR
estimates
that
main
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and
38there
aquifer
dust-producing
regions
and
were
2.4that
million
refugees
inthe
systems
cross
thenetworks,
political
their protected
area
Bodélé
Depression
is2006
one
Africa
at the
of
boundaries
ofend
two
or
moreof its
furthering
their
progress
largest
sources
of airborne dust
countries
in Africa
towards the
MDG target
Transboundary Environmental Issues
Migratory birds and other migratory
animals are a significant component of
transboundary environmental resources
Major migratory bird routes of the world
The map above illustrates global migratory bird
routes and shows that Africa has the highest
concentration of such routes
The Congo Basin Forests
Congo Basin forests
form a transboundary
ecosystem shared by
Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Republic of
Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, and Democratic
Republic of the Congo
 About 60 per cent of the total
forest area in the Congo Basin
is considered to be industrially
exploitable
 The transboundary nature of
this ecosystem calls for a
multinational approach for the
conservation and sustainable use
of its resources
Maasai Mara – Serengeti Protected Areas in East Africa
Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve and United Republic of Tanzania’s Serengeti National
Park are two neighboring transboundary protected areas
Every
A pair
year,
of herds
images
of wildebeest,
zebra,
comparing
and other
green
herbivores migrate
between
vegetation
the Serengeti
in 2005 to
National
the
Park
in Tanzania
parched,and
brown
the Maasai Mara
Game
landscape
Reserveinin2006
Kenya.
W-Arly-Pendjari Parks Complex & The Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park
The W-Arly-Pendjari
(WAP) Parks Complex
straddles the countries
of Benin, Burkina Faso,
and Niger, and is one of
the largest contiguous
protected areas in Africa
The Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park (GLTP) is
Africa’s largest transboundary
protected area that spreads
through Mozambique, South
Africa and
Zimbabwe
Transboundary Ecosystems and Protected Areas
Mountain Gorilla
Conservation in the
Virunga Heartland
The Virunga Heartland in the central
Albertine Rift region of east-central
Africa spans the borders of
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Rwanda, and Uganda
Southern Sudan: A Survival
The first aerial
Surprise
survey of
southern Sudan
in 25 years
revealed that
vast migrating
herds have
managed to
survive over 20
years of civil war
Transboundary Water Resources
Transboundary Water Resources
 Lake Victoria: Africa’s Largest Freshwater Lake
 Lake Chad: Africa’s Shrinking Lake
 Okavango: The World’s Largest Inland Delta
Lake Victoria: Africa’s Largest Freshwater Lake
 Since December 2005, water
levels dropped to alarmingly low
levels
 Current water levels in Lake
Victoria are below normal and the
lowest level since September 1961
 The lake is a crucial resource to
the more than 30 million people
 Lake area is the most densely
populated rural region in the
world
Water Hyacinth in Lake Victoria
These images show
water hyacinth infestation
and control of such
invasive species
• 1995: Image shows
several water-hyacinthchoked bays (yellow
arrows)
• 2001: A visible
reduction of Water
Hyacinth on Lake
Victoria
Lake Victoria: Population Growth
• The population growth
around 100 km buffer zone
of the Lake Victoria
• Population growth around
Lake Victoria, East Africa, is
the highest in Africa
Lake Victoria’s Winam Gulf
Winam Gulf is a large arm
of Lake Victoria that
extends east into Kenya
This images show increased
siltation and suspended sediments
in the Winam Gulf waters between
8 March 1986 and 5 February 2001
water hyacinth
17 Dec 2005
18 Dec 2006
Images showing water hyacinth choked bays
Transboundary Water Resources
Lake Victoria: Africa’s Largest Freshwater Lake
250
50.00
Total Human Population Living around Lake Victoria
(millions)
246
47.23
218
41.80
Lake Victoria
is world’s
fastest
Population
growing
growth
around
rural area
Lake Victoria
vs. Africa
40.00
200
159
30.51
30.00
150
22.13
115
20.00
8416.05
100
11.71
10.00 458.57
61
50
0.00
0
9
1960
1960
12
1970
1970
16
21
26
1980
1990
2000
1980
1990
2000
32
36
2010
2015
2010
2015
Lake VictoriaTotal Population
Africa Average
Persons/km2
Lake Chad: Africa’s Shrinking Lake
Lake Chad drainage basin
Shrinking of Lake Chad
The Lake Chad drainage basin, a
2 500 000 km² hydrologically
closed catchment, extends to
eight countries: Algeria, Libyan
Arab Jamahiriya, Niger, Chad,
Sudan, Central African Republic,
Cameroon, and Nigeria
Lake Chad: Africa’s Shrinking Lake
Persistent droughts and increased
agricultural irrigation have reduced
the lake’s extent in the past 35
years to one-tenth of its former size
• 1972: Larger lake surface area is
visible in this image
• 2001: Impact of drought displays a
shrunken lake, comparatively much
smaller surface area than in 1972
image
• The 2007 image shows
significant improvement over
previous years
Okavango: The World’s Largest Inland Delta
Map of the catchment area
of the Okavango Delta
The map shows the percentage of
time between 1985 and 2000 that
areas of the delta were inundated
Dark blue areas indicate
permanently inundated regions
while lighter blue to white areas
represent less inundation time
The Okavango Delta
(or Okavango
Swamp) is a globally
renowned Ramsar
Wetland Site and the
world’s largest
inland delta
Dadaab Refugee Camp
Ifo, Dagahaley, and Hagadera
refugee camps are located in
Dadaab town in the North
Eastern Province of Kenya,
near the border with Somalia
Dagahaley
Camp
1987: Shows a fairly intact
landscape dominated by shrub
vegetation that is characteristic
of the semiarid area
Ifo
Camp
Hagadera
Camp
2000: The Ifo, Dagahaley, and
Hagadera refugee camps stand
out distinctly, revealing the
presence and impact of a high
concentration of over 100 000
refugees on the environment
The Parrot’s Beak Region
“Parrot’s Beak” is a small
strip of land belonging to
Guinea situated between
Sierra Leone and Liberia
1974: Prior to the influx of refugees
small flecks of light green scattered
throughout the deep-green forest of
the Parrot’s Beak region represent
compounds of villages surrounded
by agricultural plots
2002: Contrast this with the light
green colour which is the result of
deforestation where refugees
have settled
Darfur Conflict
Bir Kedouas is
a two square
kilometre
settlement
within Chad,
just west of
Sudan’s Darfur
region
2006
2004
Changes in Bir Kedouas, Chad, between 2004 and 2006
Glimpses of the camp area
Dust storms in the Bodele Depression
Based on satellite data and computer
models, scientists estimate that
Saharan dust storms generate an
average of about 0.7 million metric
tonnes of dust during winter days
Bodele Depression
02 Jan 2007
Aerosol Optical Depth
• This image shows the annual mean aerosol optical depth for 2006
• Gray zones on the map represent areas were aerosol data could
not be collected
Fires
Seasonal
Pattern of
Wildland Fires
This series of
images shows
the seasonal
pattern of
wildland fires in
Africa during
2005
This image shows the global distribution of fires, represented by red
dots. Fire distribution in Africa indicates the highest biomass burning in
the world (images based on night-time measurements).
Smoke Spreading From Greece to Africa
Fires burning in
southwestern Greece in
August 2007 released
aerosols that winds carried
to Africa
26 Aug 2007
This 2007 image shows
actively burning fires in
red—a line of fires stretches
along the western coast of
Greece’s Peloponnesus
Peninsula
Carbon monoxide pollution
Jan,
Apr,
Feb,
May,
Mar
Jun
(2000
(2000
––2004)
––2004)
2004)
Jul,
Aug,
Sep
(2000
Oct,
Nov,
Dec
(2000
2004)
This series of images shows a record of global CO production from January
2000 through December 2004
A global map of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the troposphere in 2003
 Image shows the locations of high levels of nitrogen dioxide worldwide
 High concentrations of NO2 tend to be associated with large urban or industrial
Areas
 In Africa, NO2 concentrations are particularly high over coal-fired power stations in
South Africa
 Lower, but widespread, concentrations of the gas—produced by biomass
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