Environmental Flows

The Okavango Delta ecosystem is complex and there are still important gaps in the understanding of the wetland system’s functioning. For instance links between hydrology and ecology are still not well understood, while this is the primary support for biodiversity in the system. A necessary condition for sustaining existing ecosystem services and biodiversity and supporting livelihoods is that flow regimes required for the functioning of the various sub-systems within the Delta are maintained. The BIOKAVANGO Project collaborated with the Permanent Okavango River Basin Commission (OKACOM) and another GEF funded project EPSMO (Environment Protection and Sustainable Management of the Okavango River Basin ), to develop Environmental Flows for Okavango River Basin. This process brought together experts from the three riparian countries of Angola, Botswana and Namibia from the different fields of hydrology, vegetation, wildlife, birds, macroinvertebrates, fisheries, socioeconomics to establish the relationship between the different variables and the floof regime of the Okavango River. This project is still ongoing.