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Conclusions and Recommendations
• The population in the Zambezi River Basin
is increasing, and is expected to reach
51 million by 2025.
• Some 7.5 million people live in urban centres
in the Zambezi basin. There has been rapid
expansion of Lilongwe and Harare between
1990 and 2011.
• There are some 30 ethnic groups and related
cultures in the Zambezi River Basin. The
cultures in the Zambezi basin include the
Lunda, Luchaze and Quioca in Angola; the
Tswana in Chobe, Botswana; the Chewa,
Tumbuka, Yao, Ngoni, Nyanja and Sena
cultures in Malawi; the Sena in Mozambique;
the Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, Luyana, Lunda, Bunda
and Chewa/Nyanja in Zambia; and Shona,
Ndebele and Tonga cultures in Zimbabwe, as
well as Nambya in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
• Land available per capita is projected to
shrink from 4.16 ha/person in 1998 to
2.72 ha/person by 2025.
• The Basin is endowed with numerous natural
resources including lakes, wetlands, forests
and wildlife, as well as land and minerals.
• The Basin is highly prone to overexploitation
and unsustainable development.
• Climate change coupled with human pressure
on resources is resulting in significant change
of the Zambezi basin’s environment.
• The location, extent and significance of
adverse impacts occurring through changes
in land use are closely related to human
population pressure on the land.
• Seventy-five per cent of the land area in the
Basin is forest and bush while13 per cent
of the land area is cropland, mostly rain
fed. Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi have
together 86 per cent of the estimated
5.2 million ha of the cultivated area in the basin.
• Use of fertilizers and agro-chemicals in the
basin is contributing to the eutrophication of
water bodies.
• There has been significant loss of forests in
the last 20 years, with Tanzania, Zimbabwe
and Mozambique recording the highest loss
of 403 350 ha, 327 000 ha and 217 800 ha
respectively. Malawi and Namibia recorded the
least loss of 32 950 ha and 73 600 ha respectively.
Key Findings
• Biodiversity of Mulanje Mountain, particularly
the rare and endemic Mulanje cedar
(
Widdringtonia whiteii
), is under threat from
deforestation and encroachment, poaching,
forest fires and invasive alien species.
Mulanje Mountain is a Global Biosphere
Reserve under UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere
Programme.
• The world famous Victoria Falls on the
Zambezi River between Zambia and
Zimbabwe is an important economic asset
to the two countries through tourism, but is
under some threat from upsteam dams and
other developments that pollute the river.
Victoria Falls is a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.
• Five countries in the basin have reserved
more than 10 per cent of their total land
area for the conservation of wildlife, with
Zambia and Tanzania having 31 per cent and
28 per cent of their total land area set aside
as protected areas, respectively.
• About 74 per cent of the total energy needs
of the eight Basin states come from biomass.
• Forty hydropower schemes with a total
potential of close to 13 500 MW have been
identified, with more than half of these in
Mozambique. The estimated hydropower
potential of the Zambezi River is 20 000 MW
of which only 4 684 MW has been developed.
• The increase in carbon dioxide per capita
is concurrent with a rise in temperatures,
which has in turn altered weather patterns as
evidenced by shifting seasons within the basin,
droughts and floods, and increased incidence
of pests and diseases such as malaria.
• Regular fire outbreaks, which peak from
August to November, are a major emitter
of carbon dioxide. In Botswana, about 20 to
30 per cent of the country was burnt
between 1996 and 1997. In the Namibian
Caprivi and Kavango regions, about 25 to
30 per cent of the area burns every year.
• Climate change has impacted on the Basin’s
water resources, such as in Lake Liambezi in
Namibia, which has experienced shrinking
over the years. A major positive development
is the flowing again of Savuti river, which had
been dry for long periods of time.
• Deforestation is the most significant factor in
climate change in the Zambezi basin.