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Southern Africa

Component 2

Improved Information Systems for Biodiversity and Natural Resources Management

OKACOM requires access to reliable and accurate data in order to recommend appropriatemeasures for natural resources management within the basin, specifically water and basin

biodiversity.  Constantly changing socioeconomic and environmental conditions within thebasin require continuous review and analyses of appropriate data concerning demographics,current and projected water use, amount and availability of water resources, water quality and impacts of human resource use patterns, and socioeconomic conditions on the ecological health

of the ecosystem.  Component 2 aims to improve information management by enhancing access to databases, improving the monitoring of water resources, and identifying and

further improving the conservation management of areas of ecological significance.  These activities will be completed in close consultation and collaboration with OKACOM,

through the Okavango Basin Steering Committee (OBSC). 

 

Key Activity Areas Include:

  • Developing a meta database and associated protocols for information management and sharing. 

OKACOM and its riparian members, with project support, will establish a set of meta data records,that can be accessed through its website, and provides information most important and relevant to commission decision-making. The project also supports the development of a regional institutionalframework for discussing and sharing hydrologic data through the Okavango Hydrology Task Force, under the direction of the OBSC.  The Task Force is leading an effort to prepare protocols for OKACOM and its represented governments for sharing important data with each other.  

  • Improve hydrometric network in the basin. 

All three OKACOM member countries have agreedthat there is a critical need to improve data collection in the upper areas of the river basin.  At the end of the war in Angola, very little data existed on water flows or water levels in the Angolan portion of the basin, which contributes over 95% of the water to the river. In coordination with the UNDP-GEF Environmental Protection and Sustainable Management of the Okavango River Basin Project (EPSMO), hydrological monitoring stations in Angola are being rehabilitated in two phases. Five stations, in and around Menongue, have been restored and are now operational.  Support to strengthen the capacity of the Provincial Water Department to operate and maintain hydrological monitoring is being provided and another six stations, further south on the Kubango River and east on the Cuito River, should be rehabilitated in 2007.  Training in analysis and management of data will develop thetechnical capacity of local technicians to operate and maintain hydrological monitoring stations.

  • Identify and assess biologically important areas in the upper basin. 

OKACOM will be supported to advocate for and coordinate better collection of informationand use systems for improved regional biodiversity conservation in the Okavango River basin.

 The Government of Angola, through the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), will inventory an important part of southeastern Angola, an area of unknown but possibly ignificant biodiversity and a critical part of the proposed Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA).  A consortium of key local and national government agencies, in partnership with NGOs and communities, will prepare a management plan for one specific protected area along the border with Namibia, to be used by the Ministry of Urban Planning and Environment (MINUA) in preparing national guidelines for protected areasplanning and management.  Training will be provided to technicians from MINUA and the

Institute for Forestry Development (IDF) in inventory procedures and management planning by a team from the US Forestry Service and regional institutions.  Partnerships with key

regional and international organizations will be formed to ensure the long-term institutional sustainability of the program.