The Limpopo River Basin: changes, challenges and opportunities is a collaborative initiative with the objective of providing evidence-based analyses on changes in the Limpopo River Basin, including their drivers and outcomes, so as to motivate policy action and the promotion of sustainable development. The Atlas is for use by policy makers, technical staff, planners and the general public to raise awareness, influence decision making and generate action and interventions towards climate resilience through adaptation and mitigation of impacts of climate change. The Atlas discusses impacts that environmental changes are having on the basin’s people and resources, as well as documents the relationship between human populations and the environment. 

The Limpopo River Basin is one of the 63 transboundary river basins in Africa and is the fourth largest in southern Africa after the Congo, the Zambezi, and the OrangeSenqu basins. The basin is endowed with underground water resources that are important in supplementing surface water resources. The catchment characteristics of the basin are very diverse, covering different climatic and topographic zones, as well as land use types, including protected areas. The basin represents one of the best of what southern Africa has in terms of shared natural capital. The natural capital in the basin defines the economic activities that range from agriculture, mining and manufacturing to conservation and tourism, as well as scientific monitoring and research. 

Tags: Africa agriculture drought Limpopo River Basin rivers lakes and streams transboundary governance