FUNDED BY

Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Service for Transboundary Basins in Southern Africa

wemast.sasscal.org

wemast.sasscal.org

Earth Observation Products and Services for Sustainable Wetland Management

Wetlands in Southern Africa are highlyproductive and biologically diverse ecosystemsthat contribute significantly to livelihoods and toeconomic development.

However, they are under significant pressurefrom both human activities and naturalphenomena, including agricultural practices, landcover and land use change, human settlements,water harvesting, invasive species infestation,climate change and unsustainable developmentpractices.

The future of these wetlands is thereforedependent on effective assessment andmonitoring initiatives that can inform policy anddecision making to promote sustainablemanagement and use of these wetlandecosystems.

Moreover, the necessary skills and institutionalcapacities, to exploit existing and freely availabledata and information resources, in particularEarth Observation (EO) products, are oftenlacking and therefore constrain effective wetlandmanagement efforts.

The WeMAST (Wetland Monitoring andAssessment Service for TransboundaryBasins in Southern Africa) Project willdevelop and implement an EarthObservation (EO) based online platformthat supports Sustainable WetlandAssessment and Monitoring Services,promotes policy implementation andmanagement practices in the SADCregion, utilizes free satellite-based EOdata and existing free software.

The WeMAST consortium aims to createproducts and services in line with theconcept of

“with the Users for the Users”.

WeMAST objectives

• to identify existing assessment andmonitoring methods applicable tosouthern Africa

• to design, develop and operationalizean integrated platform that can providewetland information services to targetgroups and end users

• to extend existing EO capabilities toSADC decision makers for wetlandassessment and monitoring throughcapacity building and leverageawareness

WeMAST Products & Services

All WeMAST products and services will bemade available via an online web portal, aWetland Monitoring and AssessmentService for Transboundary Basins inSADC:

• Wetland inventory (mapping extentfloodplains, swamps, marshes, andother surface water bodies)

• Information on water cycle regimes(duration, extent and timing offlooding)

• Information on vegetation dynamics

• Inland water quality mapping (algalblooms and total suspended matter)

• Wetland utilisation and landcoverinformation

wemast.sasscal.org

Basin Basin Area Riparian Countries

Cuvelai Basin 173 686 km2 Angola & Namibia

Limpopo Basin 411 553 km2 Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa & Zimbabwe

Okavango Basin 704 275 km2 Angola, Botswana, Namibia & Zimbabwe

Zambezi Basin 1 383 498 km2 Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia & Zimbabwe

Project Basins

The WeMAST project will provide products and services for the management of the wetlands of the following basins:

The Cuvelai Basin

The Cuvelai drainage system channels runoff from Angola’ssummer rainfall through a complex system of ephemeralriver channels, referred to as the oshanas. When thesystem floods, the runoff flows through the shallowchannels in a southerly direction to the Etosha pan inNamibia.

During the wet season, the oshanas of the Cuvelaidrainage system are estimated to support around 30 to 40% of Namibia’s population with subsistence farming andfishing on the seasonal wetlands. In addition, the floodedwetlands contain small fish, carried with the runoff fromthe North, which are joined by various pond fauna anddraw various bird species, including flamingo, that will alsobreed in the Fischer’s Pan of the Etosha pan, and thethreatened blue crane. Most of the Etosha pan itself iscontained in the Etosha National Park, which hosts anumber of rare and endangered mammals, including theblack rhinoceros, and consequently contributessubstantially to the local economy with tourism. TheEtosha pan and the Cuvelai drainage system in Namibiaare a Ramsar site.

Earth Observation Products and Services for Sustainable Wetland Management

wemast.sasscal.org

The Limpopo Basin

The majority of wetlands along the Limpopo basin are located in Mozambique andalong the Changane River. There are three Ramsar wetland sites in the Limpopobasin: The Makuleke Wetlands, the Nylsvley Nature Reserve and the VerlorenValei Nature Reserve. All three wetland sites have conservation status andtherefore contribute to the local economies with tourism.

Most of the Makuleke wetlands are situated within the Kruger National Park. Thewetlands are of floodplain vlei type and are intermittently filled by floods and rain.They sustain riverine ecosystems, including wildlife, well into the dry season. Thefloodplains also serve to attenuate floods, thereby reducing flood damagedownstream.

The Nylsvley Nature Reserve serves as a breeding ground for eight red-listedwaterbirds and hoasts the endangered roan antelope. It is also the only sitewhere wild rice is found in South Africa.

The Verloren Valei Nature Reserve is hydrologically significant as it functions likea sponge in the upper catchment, ensuring the gradual release of water todownstream areas during and after the rainy season. The area provides a refugefor the Wattled Crane and further hosts various vulnerable and threatened plant

and mammal species.

The Okavango Basin

The Okavango Basin’s main stream, the Okavango River, issouthern Africa’s fourth longest river and is produced by seasonalflooding during the summer months. It begins as the Rio Cubangoin Angola, flows south to form the border between Angola andNamibia and, in Botswana, it reaches the large swampy inland deltacalled the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Okavango River and the delta attract great concentrations ofwildlife, including huge elephant and buffalo herds, andconsequently fuel a lucrative tourism industry in Namibia andBotswana.

Along all rivers and tributaries, the river-based communities rely onthe perennial river for small-scale irrigation, subsistence farmingand fishing.

The Zambezi Basin

The Zambezi basin is the fourth-largest river basin of Africa with a large area covered bywetlands. These include the Barotse Floodplains in Zambia, the Chobe Swamps in northeasternNamibia, the Linyanti Swamp in Botswana, the Busanga Swamps on the Lunga River, theLukanga Swamps and the Kafue Flats on the Luangwa River, and the Elephant Marsh near thetown of Chiromo in Malawi. These wetlands are used for fisheries, including commercialfisheries, agriculture, wildlife management and transportation services. Moreover, thesewetlands are important habitats for fish, and its riverine woodlands support wildlife and birds,by providing vegetative cover and suitable breeding and feeding grounds, which drive tourismactivities, that include photography, bird watching and hunting. Furthermore, the wetlandsprovide hydrological services by decreasing downstream flood risks.

The construction of the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams has decreased the size of the floodplainof the lower Zambezi, and consequently the wetlands, but flooding remains perennial.

Earth Observation Products and Services for Sustainable Wetland Management

WeMAST PARTNERS