Transcript World Heritage Listing for the Okavango Delta.

World Heritage Listing for the
Okavango Delta.
Karen Ross, Wilderness Foundation
Botswana’s
Okavango Delta
• Fed by waters from the Angolan highlands, the Cuito and Cubango Rivers join to form the
Kavango River which travels along the Namibia border into the Caprivi Strip.
•On reaching Botswana the river slows and spreads out across the Kalahari sands to form
the a unique inland delta, at the end point of the entire Okavango River Basin.
The delta is internationally
recognised as a key seasonal refuge
for large migratory mammals…..
elephants
Zebra, wildebeest & buffalo
As well as these, the Okavango Delta is a refuge to
threatened and endangered species including rhinos,
lions, cheetahs, wild dogs … and numerable smaller
species including plants and birds
The delta is also a wetland
oasis for many ecologically
important flagship species
and Red Lechwe
It is also a haven for smaller animals
from kingfishers to reed frogs
But …… this fragile desert wetland is vulnerable to any developmental
changes upstream or around its borders.
The hydrology of the Okavango Delta
depends on upstream inflow from Angola as
well as local rainfall in Botswana
1990 – dry period
2000 – wet period
The Annual floods bring life-giving water
to the Okavango Delta each year
The annual flooding of the
Delta occurs when rains in
Angola collect and travel
through the river basin.
Reaching the Delta the
Okavango River floods its
banks across thousands of
square kilometers of dry sandy
grasslands.
This transforms the parched
landscape in the dry season,
when food and water are most
needed by the Delta’s
inhabitants.
Angola
Because the Delta is the
endpoint of a wetland
system spanning three
countries, actions upstream
have profound implications
for the Delta’s ecological
health.
Namibia
Botswana
Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).
The Okavango Delta is a globally unique freshwater inland Delta,
biologically rich and vital to ecosystem services, which is an example of
intactness in a wetland and integrity as a natural system
SUMMARY OF QUALITIES
A pristine inland Delta measuring over 16,000 square kilometers in size which
supports the lives of over 50,000 people by providing freshwater, food, building
materials, medicinal plants as well as employment through a viable tourist industry
A wetland in an otherwise arid environment that is an extension of Botswana’s
Kalahari desert, and incorporating a variety of habitats including woodlands, riverine
forests grasslands, floodplains and sand veldt islands
The Delta supports an outstanding biodiversity of life including 150 species of
mammals, over 500 species of birds, 90 species of fish, as well as plants,
reptiles, invertebrates and amphibians
It supports globally threatened and endangered species including wild dogs,
cheetahs, lions, black and white rhinos and sitatunga antelopes and ome to
endemic species such as Eriospermum linearifolium and Adenium boehmianum
WORLD HERITAGE CRITERIA
The Okavango Delta fulfills Criteria vii) to x) for Natural Sites
vii) Contains superlative natural phenomena and natural beauty
viii) An outstanding example of geologic process – an inland alluvial
fan which is the extension of the East African Rift Valley system
ix) An outstanding example of ecological and hydrological process
x) A natural habitat for the conservation of biological diversity
containing threatened species of outstanding universal value.
MANAGEMENT:
The Okavango delta is an International Ramsar Site, which is managed
according to several government plans including the Okavango Delta
Management Plan (ODMP) and the recently completed Ngamiland Integrated
Land Use Plan
PROTECTION:
Apart from Moremi Game Reserve and Ramsar designation, the Okavango
Delta has no other over-arching legal protection (see map below)
Landscape planning and transboundary protected areas
As this map shows, the life-artery of the Okavango Delta
has no legal protection……
International Conventions to
provide landscape conservation
• The Ramsar
Convention
• The World Heritage
Convention (UNESCO)
• The Okavango River
Basin Commission
(OKACOM)
PUTTING OKAVANGO DELTA ON THE TENTATIVE LIST
BOTSWANA – THE QUESTION IS – DO YOU RECOGNISE THE
OKAVANGO DELTA AS YOUR GLOBAL TREASURE, THAT DESERVES
TO BE ENSCRIPTED BY THE WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION?