Objectives
The research project focuses on the Okavango basin with its variety of savannah wood-lands and wetland ecosystems linked by the central lifeline of the Okavango river. The region is a global hot-spot of accelerating change and land use conflicts and this study will link high-level inter- and transdisciplinary research with trans-boundary stakeholder and land user requirements. The basin comprises different aspects of the Okavango river as it flows through the highly disturbed war ridden areas of Angola, and on through the semi-arid areas of Namibia and Botswana. In Botswana it terminates in the Okavango Delta, the worlds largest inland delta and the largest freshwater swamp south of the equator.
The Okavango basin is proposed here as a transboundary study region of high international visibility and high potential transferability of results to other tropical and sub-tropical regions.
