Zambezi River Basin

Land Cover and Land Use

Almost 75 per cent of the land area in the basin

is forest and bush. Cropped land with mostly

rain-fed agriculture covers 13 per cent of the

land area, and grassland covers about 8 per cent

of the land area.

Land cover and land use have great impacts

on water resources, as they affect how

precipitation translates into runoff, infiltration,

evaporation, and the quality of the water (Hirji

et al.

2002).

Figure 1.4

ANGOLA

BOTSWANA

ZIMBABWE

MOZAMBIQUE

MALAWI

TANZANIA

ZAMBIA

Moist evergreen forest and grassland

Source: adapted from Timberlake, J. 2000. Biodiversity in the Zambezi Basin. Biodiversity Foundation for Africa. Bulawayo

Dry evergreen forest

Miombo woodland

Mopane woodland

Mosaic of deciduous forest and grassland

Swamp/floodplain vegetation

Coastal vegetation

Zambezi River Basin vegetation