Production and development in the savanna regions of southern Africa are primarily determined by interactions between the limitations imposed by ecological determinants (such as rainfall and soil quality) and the management strategies of the specific region. Good planning, focussing on both the short and long-term effects of water use, is needed in water management strategies. Botswana is already experiencing so-called 'water stress' which is related to a number of factors such as rapidly increasing population leading to a sharp increase in water demand, low and variable rainfall, high rates of evaporation, and the high cost of exploiting existing water resources. At the current rates of abstraction, the lifetime of surface and groundwater resources is limited to decades. Botswana shares four river basins with its neighbouring countries. This results in a situation where 94% of the fresh water resources which Botswana can theoretically access originates outside its borders, making water resource management highly complex. Transnational sharing and management of water resources, therefore, plays a major role in securing sustainability of this precious resource.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:Rhodes/oai:eprints.ru.ac.za:431 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | du Plessis, A.J.E., Rowntree, K.M. |
| Source Sets | Rhodes University SA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, PeerReviewed |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Relation | http://eprints.ru.ac.za/431/ |
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