AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

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AFRICA Atlas of Our Changing Environment
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Transboundary Environmental Issues

• Transboundary Ecosystems and Protected Areas
• The Congo Basin Forests
• Maasai Mara Serengeti Protected Areas in
  East Africa
• W-Arly-Pendjari Parks Complex
• The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
• Mountain Gorilla Conservation in the Virunga
  Heartland
• Southern Sudan A Survival Surprise

• Transboundary Water Resources
• Lake Victoria
• Lake Chad
• Okavango

• Transboundary Movement of People
• Dadaab Refugee Camp
• The Parrots Beak Region
• Darfur Conflict

• Transboundary Movement of Pollutants
• Dust storms
• Aerosols
• Fires
• Carbon monoxide pollution

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Transboundary Environmental Issues
Transboundary Ecosystems and Protected Areas
Transboundary Water Resources
Transboundary Movement of People
Transboundary Movement of Pollutants
Between 1990 and 2004 a few African countries
expanded their protected area networks,
furthering their progress towards the MDG target
There are 15 principal lakes, 24 main watersheds
and 38 aquifer systems that cross the political
boundaries of two or more countries in Africa
Africa is one the worlds largest dust-producing
regions and the Bodélé Depression is one of its
largest sources of airborne dust
UNHCR estimates that there were 2.4 million
refugees in Africa at the end of 2006
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Transboundary Environmental Issues
Migratory birds and other migratory animals are a
significant component of transboundary
environmental resources
The map above illustrates global migratory bird
routes and shows that Africa has the highest
concentration of such routes
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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

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Maasai Mara Serengeti Protected Areas in East
Africa
Kenyas Maasai Mara Game Reserve and United
Republic of Tanzanias Serengeti National Park
are two neighboring transboundary protected areas
A pair of images comparing green vegetation in
2005 to the parched, brown landscape in 2006
Every year, herds of wildebeest, zebra, and other
herbivores migrate between the Serengeti National
Park in Tanzania and the Maasai Mara Game Reserve
in Kenya.
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W-Arly-Pendjari Parks Complex The Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Park
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) is
Africas largest transboundary protected area
that spreads through Mozambique, South Africa and
Zimbabwe
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Transboundary Ecosystems and Protected Areas
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Transboundary Water Resources

• Transboundary Water Resources
• Lake Victoria Africas Largest Freshwater Lake
• Lake Chad Africas Shrinking Lake
• Okavango The Worlds Largest Inland Delta

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Lake Victoria Africas 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

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Water Hyacinth in Lake Victoria
These images show water hyacinth infestation and
control of such invasive species

• 1995 Image shows several water-hyacinth-choked
  bays (yellow arrows)

• 2001 A visible reduction of Water Hyacinth on
  Lake Victoria

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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

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Lake Victorias 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
Images showing water hyacinth choked bays
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Transboundary Water Resources
Lake Victoria Africas Largest Freshwater Lake
Lake Victoria is worlds fastest growing rural
area
Population growth around Lake Victoria vs. Africa
Persons/km2
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Lake Chad Africas Shrinking Lake
Lake Chad drainage basin
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
Shrinking of Lake Chad
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Lake Chad Africas Shrinking Lake
Persistent droughts and increased agricultural
irrigation have reduced the lakes 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

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Okavango The Worlds 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
worlds largest inland delta
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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
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
Hagadera Camp
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The Parrots Beak Region
Parrots 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 Parrots 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
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Darfur Conflict
Bir Kedouas is a two square kilometre settlement
within Chad, just west of Sudans Darfur region
Changes in Bir Kedouas, Chad, between 2004 and
2006
Glimpses of the camp area
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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
02 Jan 2007
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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

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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).
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Smoke Spreading From Greece to Africa
Fires burning in southwestern Greece in August
2007 released aerosols that winds carried to
Africa
This 2007 image shows actively burning fires in
reda line of fires stretches along the western
coast of Greeces Peloponnesus Peninsula
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Carbon monoxide pollution
This series of images shows a record of global CO
production from January 2000 through December 2004
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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
  gasproduced by biomass

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