Zambezi River Basin

© SARDC

Elephants drinking water.

The Elephant Population In Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the elephant population has grown so much in recent years that it now exceeds the carrying capacity of its habitat in these countries, creating problems of overpopulation and habitat destruction (SADC and SARDC 2008). For example, the elephant

population in Namibia grew from 7 769 in 2002 to 12 531 in 2006. Tanzania has greater carrying capacity but also has a larger population of elephants. The elephant population in Tanzania increased from 92 453 in 2002 to 141 000 in 2006 (IUCN, African Elephant Database 2002 in SADC and SARDC 2008).

Human Health in a Changing Environment

The health of millions of people in the Zambezi basin is under threat due to an increase in the occurrence and spread of water-borne, vector-borne and respiratory diseases resulting from climate change related events (Boko and others 2007 in SARDC and HBS 2010). As a result of rising temperatures, it is predicted that the malaria-carrying female Anopheles mosquito will spread to parts of the region where it has not been found before by 2100 and there will be longer seasons of transmission in other areas (IPCC 2007 in SARDC and HBS 2010). New malaria areas include the southern highlands of Tanzania. In the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, malaria cases rose from 380 500 in 1993 to 444 000 in 2003 while in Zambia cases rose from just below 2 million in 1990 to 4.5 million in 2006 (SARDC and HBS 2010).

Reported malaria cases in Zambia

Million cases

5.0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

Source:World Malaria Report, 2008

Figure 2.10

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