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  • Africa Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer

  • Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer

Welcome to the African Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer


What?

The African Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer is a geospatial platform that allows the user to explore freshwater ecosystems at national, sub-national and river basin levels to better understand and assess their state, changes over time and seasonal patterns.

Why?

Freshwater is essential for life on Earth. For countries to develop sustainably, it is crucial to monitor, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, such as wetlands and rivers. In the global context (SDG 15 (Life on land) and SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation) / Target 6.6 (Ecosystems) / indicator 6.6.1 on tracking changes in different types of water-related ecosystems) and related national implementation measures, there is a need for the countries to identify and understand the dynamics of ecosystem changes, track progress in halting their loss or degradation, monitor their recovery or/and address the environmental impact of infrastructures (i.e., dams). The African Freshwater Explorer provides free and open data, so that stakeholders from the public and private sectors and citizens can easily visualise and monitor the state and changes of freshwater resources, identify environmental challenges, and determine the need for local, national and continental actions. Actions could be for environmental protection but also in the context of political negotiations related to water scarcity in conflict risk areas or transboundary resource limitation issues.

How?

The Explorer provides accurate, up-to-date, high-resolution geospatial data on freshwater ecosystems, their spatial extent and changes over time (1984-2019). Data can be visualized at national, sub-national and river basin levels. Data is available for permanent & seasonal surface waters (lakes and rivers), reservoirs, wetlands, mangroves and water quality (turbidity and trophic state).


The global version of this tool has been developed by UNEP, EU-JRC and Google.





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Permanent and Seasonal Surface Water Dynamics

The data show the total change in extent of permanent and seasonal surface water area, measured against a historical reference period. Change is either gain arrow_drop_up or loss arrow_drop_down shown in both percentage and km 2 units. Total change in extent of surface water area is calculated by comparing the most recent five years of data against a five year reference period (2000-2004).


  • Permanent water is defined as being present all 12 months per year.
  • Seasonal water is defined as being present less than 12 months per year.

Permanent and Seasonal Surface Water - Advanced Analysis

The data shows:

  • - Annual time-series chart (1984-present) of permanent and seasonal surface water extent.

  • - Pie charts depicting the extent to which surface water has transitioned between different states (i.e. transitioning between permanent water, seasonal water and Land surface), represented as gain or loss and determined by comparing the most recent seasonality map to the reference seasonality map (using the 2000-2004 reference period).

  • - Annual time-series chart depicting categories of seasonal water presence behavior, defined as three inter-annual water presence durations: 0-1 month; 2-6 months; 7-11 months.


  • Permanent water is defined as being present all 12 months per year.
  • Seasonal water is defined as being present less than 12 months per year.
  • New water is an area of land that has transitioned to water.
  • Lost water is an area of water that has transitioned to land.

Seasonal Water Dynamics

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Reservoirs

Minimum water extent of reservoirs is the lowest observed (or minimum) surface area of reservoirs in a year (intra-annual measurement). This minimum extent varies from one year to another. The data shows the extent to which the annual minimum surface area of reservoirs has changed compared to a reference period. This change is calculated by comparing the minimum extent of the most recent five years against a five year reference period (2000-2004). Change is either gain arrow_drop_up or loss arrow_drop_down shown in both percentage and km2 units.


Maximum water extent of reservoirs is an intra-annual measurement corresponding to the highest observed (or maximum) extent a reservoir reaches within a year. The data shows the extent to which the annual maximum surface area of reservoirs has changed compared to a reference period. This change is calculated by comparing the maximum area of the most recent five years against a five year reference period (2000-2004). Change is either gain arrow_drop_up or loss arrow_drop_down shown in both percentage and km2 units.


Reservoirs are artificial / human-made water bodies.

Reservoirs – Advanced Analysis

The data shows:

  • - Annual change in extent of reservoirs surface area.

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Mangroves

The data show the total change in mangrove extent, either gain arrow_drop_up or loss arrow_drop_down in both percentage and km2 units,since the baseline (year 2000).


Mangroves – Advanced Analysis

The data shows:

  • - Charts showing percentage total loss and percentage total gain.

  • - Annual time series chart depicting change in extent of mangrove area for available years.

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Wetlands

The data show the total area of wetlands extent in both percentage and km 2 units. This is data is a baseline measurement and will be used to track from this baseline as and when new annual data series on wetlands are updated to the site.

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Water Quality – Turbidity & Trophic State

The data show the total percentage deviation, from a baseline, for turbidity and trophic state. A five year baseline (2006- 2010), per lake, has been produced for both parameters. This is used to measure change against recent years (2017-2019). The data represent the number of lakes impacted by a degradation of their environmental conditions (i.e. showing a deviation in turbidity and trophic state from the baseline) compared to the total number of lakes within a country. The values produced account for different sized lakes.


Turbidity is an indicator of water clarity, quantifying the haziness of the water and acting as an indicator of underwater light availability. Trophic State refers to the degree at which organic matter accumulates in the water body and is most commonly used in relation to monitoring eutrophication. In this context both water parameters may be used to infer a particular state, or quality, of a freshwater body.


Water Quality – Advanced Analysis

The data shows:

  • - Turbidity time series chart showing monthly turbidity categories (low, medium, high, extreme)

  • - Turbidity time series chart showing annual turbidity categories (low, medium, high, extreme)

  • - Trophic State time series chart showing monthly trophic state categories (low, medium, high, extreme)

  • - Trophic State time series chart showing annual trophic state categories (low, medium, high, extreme)

    • Country data

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      picture_as_pdf
      Total Population Country Area (km 2)
      NA NA

      invert_colors Lakes and Rivers

      • layers add_circle_outline info
        Permanent water dynamics
        NA%
        NA Km2
        arrow_drop_down
        Seasonal water dynamics
        NA%
        NA Km2
        arrow_drop_up

        Water Transitions (1984-2018)

        • Permanent
        • New Permanent
        • Lost Permanent
        • Seasonal
        • New Seasonal
        • Lost Seasonal
        • Seasonal to Permanent
        • Permanent to Seasonal

      invert_colors Reservoirs

      • layers add_circle_outline info
        Minimum water extent dynamics
        NA%
        NA Km2
        arrow_drop_down
        Maximum water extent dynamics
        NA%
        NA Km2
        arrow_drop_up

        Water Transitions in Reservoires (1984-2018)

        • Permanent
        • New Permanent
        • Lost Permanent
        • Seasonal
        • New Seasonal
        • Lost Seasonal
        • Seasonal to Permanent
        • Permanent to Seasonal

      invert_colors Mangroves

      • layers add_circle_outline info
        Mangroves
        NA%
        10,000 Km2
        arrow_drop_up

        Mangroves (1996-2016)

        • Mangroves Loss
        • Mangroves Gain
        • Mangroves Stable

      invert_colors Wetlands

      • layers add_circle_outline info
        Wetlands
        remove
        500,000 Km2
        remove

        Wetlands

        • Wetlands

      invert_colors Water quality

      • layers add_circle_outline info
        Turbidity State
        error_outline No turbidity on this feature
        10 out of 12 lakes affected
        81.67 %
        Deviation Percentage

        Average turbidity state (2019)

        • Normal water
        • Low
        • Medium
        • High
        • Extreme
        layers add_circle_outline info
        Trophic State
        error_outline No trophic state on this feature
        5 out of 10 lakes affected
        50.00 %
        Deviation Percentage

        Average trophic state (2019)

        • Normal water
        • Low
        • Medium
        • High
        • Extreme
        layers Global lakes layer (Click on a lake to display analysis)
      • -

    • opacity Lakes and Rivers - Advanced analysis
      layers
      Add/remove map layer

      Time series

      error_outline No water detected in this area during the observed period

      Permanent Transitions

      error_outline No permanent transitions

      Seasonal Transitions

      error_outline No seasonal transitions

      Seasonal Categories of Water Presence

      error_outline No seasonality transitions
    • opacity Reservoirs - Advanced analysis
      layers
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      Time series

      error_outline No water detected in this area during the observed period
    • opacity Mangroves - Advanced analysis
      layers
      Add/remove map layer
      error_outline No mangroves detected in this country
      Gain

      <5% Stable

      5% – 10% Some

      >10% Extreme

      2.2
      Loss

      <5% Stable

      5% – 10% Some

      >10% Extreme

      2.2
      list
    • opacity Water quality - Advanced analysis
      layers
      Add/remove map layer

      Turbidity State Time Series

      error_outline No turbidity data
      layers
      Add/remove map layer

      Trophic State Time Series

      error_outline No trophic data
    • opacity

      Turbidity State Time Series

      error_outline No monthly turbidity data
      error_outline No yearly turbidity data

      Trophic State Time Series

      error_outline No monthly trophic data
      error_outline No yearly trophic data