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Fact sheet about the
OKAVANGO |
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The Okavango in brief: Facts about the Okavango River and Delta |
- It is the only perennial river in Africa that flows eastward without reaching the ocean
- The Delta is the largest freshwater swamp south of the equator
- At 68,640 square kilometres, the Okavango wetlands site is the largest designated
RAMSAR site on earth.
- The number of earth's river basins shared between two or more countries is 261, and of these only 55 include treaty mechanisms to guide joint management.
- The Okavango is one of the last near pristine aquatic ecosystems on the African continent, and indeed on earth.
- It is the only exploitable perennial river that flows through the territories of both Namibia and Botswana.
- The number of people in SADC who lack safe drinking water is 60 million.
- The area of the Okavango Delta fluctuates between 6, 000 to 8,000 square kilometres during the dry season, swelling to 15,850 square km during the flood.
- The average size of the Okavango River as it enters Botswana is 200 meters wide and 4 meters deep.
- Over 150,000 islands dot the Delta, varying in size from several meters to 10 km.
- The Okavango Catchment is 413,550 square km, plus the Delta, an additional 15, 844 km, is part of the surrounding dry Makgadikgadi Basin of 725,293 square km.
- Within the Okavango Catchment, Angola accounts for 200,192 (48%) square km, Namibia 153,783 (37%) square km, and Botswana 59,575 (15%) square km.
- The Angola portion provides 94.5 % of the total water runoff in the catchment; Namibia provides 2.9 % and Botswana 2.6%.
- Angola, Botswana and Namibia have all ratified the UN framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses; Namibia and Botswana have both ratified the RAMSAR treaty.
- The combined population of people in the Okavango basin in 2000 was 1,113,000; of these, 76 % resided in Angola, 13 % in Namibia, and 11% in Botswana. Even taking into account mortality from HIV/AIDS and other diseases, the population is expected to increase to 1,686,000 by 2020.
- The length of the Okavango from its source in the Angola highlands to the mouth at the outer margin of the Delta in Botswana is 1,100 kilometres.
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