US-Southern Africa Workshop: Design for an Integrated Regional Model of the Human-Ecosystem-Climate System in Southern Africa, Maputo, Mozambique, July 2000

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

0002110 Desanker This award supports nine US participants in the US-Southern Africa Workshop on Design for an Integrated Regional Model of the Human-Ecosystem-Climate System in Southern Africa, to be held in Maputo, Mozambique, July 24-28, 2000. Four African participants, from Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, are also being supported. Additionally, there will be approximately 15 researchers and policy makers from Mozambique, as well as representatives from governmental and international funding agencies. The co-organizers are Professor Paul V. Desanker, of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, and Professor Luisa Santos, of the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. The overall goal of the workshop is to promote the development of integrated regional models for African systems for analyzing environmental problems at different units of management at local, district, national, or regional levels. The recent flooding in Southern Africa emphasized the need to address the interplay between climate variability, extreme events, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity and responses. At this workshop, an interdisciplinary team of scientists, managers, and policy makers will begin the process of designing a strategy to develop a regional integrated model that will attempt to capture the complexities and interlinkages between the different disciplines. A site visit will also be made to Chokwe, in the Limpopo River basin, Mozambique. The flooding in this area was some of the worst that occurred in Southern Africa, and it further underscored the need for an integrated regional model. Based on a case study of Chokwe that is being developed, participants will begin creation of a regional model which will evaluate all the linkages to be discussed during the workshop. This regional model will emphasize the river basin as a unit of management that encapsulates regional shared issues, such as the impact of land use and land cover change, the consequences of climate variability, the role of governance, and local community management. This workshop represents a significant beginning for a multidisciplinary effort to design and develop integrated models which can then be tested and extended to address specific problems at the local, district, national or regional level. The regional model developed as a result of this workshop is expected to be implemented within two to five years. The workshop results should also contribute important archival data and details about these floods for future use by researchers. This workshop is being jointly funded by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Environmental Biology.