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Acknowledgements
internet version of the Atlas which is available at .
no with links to the Virtual Library for Southern Africa at www.
sardc.net (Knowledge for Development) as well as links to www.
sadc.int, and .
The partners would like to thank well-known Zimbabwean
artist, Tapfuma Gutsa, to use images of his artwork on the
cover and opening pages of this Atlas. This gives the Atlas the
timeless perspective of Nyaminyami, the spirit of the Zambezi
river, whose presence is shown on the front cover; while the
back cover image depicts Mulonga, the river itself; and Husha
marks the inside Contents pages. These are part of Gutsa’s 2012
exhibition entitled, Mulonga, DeepWaters and Starry Skies.
The Atlas was producedwith financial support fromGRID-Arendal
and technical backstopping from UNEP as well as from Planet
Action who provided GIS software through Environmental
Systems Research Institute (ESRI).We want to thank GRID-Arendal
for their patience and creativity in the design process and for
printing the final product. To Clever Mafuta, the Africa Coordinator
at GRID-Arendal, we acknowledge your spirit of partnership
and shared vision as well as your personal commitment to this
initiative. Thanks yet again to the pillar of shared water resources
in southern Africa, Phera Ramoeli, Senior Programme Officer
SADCWater Division, and to Michael Mutale, Executive Secretary
of the Interim ZAMCOM Secretariat, both of whom gave us
enormous encouragement and an institutional framework of
firm support. You know already that your IZS Communications
Specialist, Leonissah Munjoma, is second to none.
Here we must make another very personal acknowledgement,
to Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, with very special
thanks for starting out with us on this journey long ago and
staying the course!
Phyllis Johnson, the SARDC Executive Director, we thank
you for your engagement, thorough technical review and
knowledgeable editorial eye that made this Atlas a cut
above the rest. The SARDC Programmes Director, Munetsi
Madakufamba, who set the tone for the review workshop
with this thoughtful opening remarks, and for his support,
we thank you. The IMERCSA staff who worked tirelessly to
make this product a success, we greatly appreciate your
determination and commitment. A detailed list of the Editorial
and Production team is found at the back of the Atlas.
There are many organisations and individuals who have
contributed directly and indirectly to this process. While efforts
have been made to acknowledge their input, it may be that
not everyone has been credited by name. Please accept this
acknowledgement of your role in this important publication.
We dedicate this work to you, the users.
The Southern African Research and Documentation Centre’s
environment institute, the I Musokotwane Environment
Resource Centre for Southern Africa, is pleased to present the
Zambezi River Basin: Atlas of the Changing Environment . The
work of many hands, both individuals and institutions, has
made this Atlas unique and useful. It is the first such atlas of a
single ecosystem in southern Africa, documenting the shared
resources and potential for sustainable development as well as
environmental impact, and we are rightly proud of the result.
SARDC would like to thank the partners in this initiative who
are, first and foremost our long-term partners in the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), the SADC Executive
Secretary for his support and the SADCWater Division for
partnership, the Interim Secretariat of the Zambezi Watercourse
Commission (ZAMCOM) for having that fine mix of professional
skills and people skills, the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and especially the Managing Director
and staff at GRID-Arendal who provided financial support as
well as designing and printing of this fine publication. SARDC
IMERCSA is pleased to present this Atlas as an output of its
role as the UNEP Collaborating Centre for Southern Africa for
environmental reporting, early warning and assessment.
The preparation of this Atlas benefited from a network of
National Collaborating Centres (NCCs) in the Zambezi River
Basin, including the Ministry of Energy, Water and Environment,
Angola; Kalahari Conservation Society, Botswana; Coordination
Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (CURE), Malawi;
ARA Zambeze, Mozambique; Integrated Rural Development
and Nature Conservation (IRDNC), Namibia; Ministry of Water
and Irrigation, Department of Water Resources, Tanzania;
Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA); and the
Environment Management Agency (EMA), Zimbabwe.
We want to thank the National Environment Management
Authority (NEMA) of Uganda for use of their atlas (2009),
Uganda: Atlas of Our Changing Environment, as reference for
composition and presentation. And we also warmly thank our
partners at NEMA for the staff exchange during this process,
under the Norwegian FK programme.
The preparation of the Atlas started in 2010 with the formation
of a consultative group from representatives of the eight
Zambezi basin states. Through online consultation with this
group and other Zambezi River Basin stakeholders including
SADC, and in collaboration with UNEP/GRID-Arendal, SARDC
IMERCSA prepared a zero draft of the Zambezi River Basin Atlas
of the Changing Environment. A regional review workshop
was then convened to identify data gaps and cross check the
presented data for other available sources and updates, check
on accuracy of facts, identify other significant changes not
included in the draft, identify hotspots in the basin, and indicate
other planned initiatives not captured in the draft, as well as to
obtain wider regional ownership of the process and content
of the Atlas. SARDC IMERCSA then finalized the manuscript by
incorporating comments and updating, review and edit.
Design and printing was done by GRID-Arendal in consultation
with SARDC, and GRID-Arendal also designed and hosts the
Egline Tauya
Head of SARDC IMERCSA
August 2012