FYI
This may be useful to some of you.

Malanding

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[APPLIED-GIS-RS] New Atlas of Africa Lakes
Date: 	Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:04:56 -0400
From: 	H. Gyde Lund <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: 	Applied GIS and RS <[log in to unmask]>
To: 	[log in to unmask]



Hi - Members of the list may be interested in this just released Atlas 
of Africa Lakes - using comparative satellite imagery.

    ATLAS OF AFRICA'S LAKES - Stockholm, August 2006 - The dramatic and
    in some cases damaging environmental changes sweeping Africa's lakes
    are brought into sharp focus in a new atlas. Produced by the United
    Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Africa's Lakes: Atlas of
    Our Changing Environment compares and contrasts spectacular
    satellite images of the past few decades with contemporary ones. The
    Atlas was formally launched in hard copy at World Water Week taking
    place in Stockholm, Sweden, between 20 and 26 August 2006. The rapid
    shrinking of Lake Songor in Ghana, partly as a result of intensive
    salt production, and the extraordinary changes in the Zambezi River
    system as a result of the building of the Cahora Basa Dam sit beside
    more familiar images of the near 90 per cent shrinkage of Lake Chad.
    Other impacts, some natural and some human-made and which can only
    be truly appreciated from space, include the extensive deforestation
    around Lake Nakuru in Kenya. Satellite images that document the
    falling water levels of Lake Victoria are also mapped. Africa's
    largest freshwater lake is now about a metre lower than it was in
    the early 1990s. Achim Steiner, UNEP's Executive Director, said:
    "Lakes and the natural goods and services they supply to
    communities, countries and regions are of huge economic
    significance. In the United States, for example, the value of
    freshwater resources for their recreational value alone is estimated
    at $37 billion a year." "I hope that the images in the Atlas will
    sound a warning around the world that, if we are to overcome poverty
    and meet internationally agreed development goals by 2015, the
    sustainable management of Africa's lakes must be part of the
    equation. Otherwise we face increasing tensions and instability as
    rising populations compete for life's most precious of precious
    resources," he added. Over the next two decades, population levels
    are set to double to around 40 million causing a dramatic demand for
    water. Meanwhile rainfall and river flows in the region have
    declined steadily in the past 30 years with this partly linked to
    higher evaporation rates as a result of climate change. "Africa's
    Lakes: Atlas of Our Changing Environment" was prepared under the
    auspices of the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW), who's
    Chairperson and President, Mrs. Maria Mutagamba, Minister of State
    for Water Resources, Uganda, has gladly provided the Foreword. The
    Atlas and high resolution images of all of the 'before and after'
    satellite images can be found at http://na.unep.net/AfricaLakes/.
    Hard copies of this publication are available on order from
    EarthPrint.com - UNEP's online bookstore at: http://www.earthprint.com.

    For more information please contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson,
    Office of the Executive Director, on Tel: 254 20 7623084, Mobile:
    254 (0) 733 632755 or 41 79 596 5737, e-mail: [log in to unmask]
    <mailto:[log in to unmask]> or contact Elisabeth Waechter, UNEP
    Associate Media Officer, on Tel: 254 20 7623088, Mobile: 254 720
    173968, e-mail: [log in to unmask]
    <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

    Citation: UNEP 2006. Africa's Lakes: Atlas of Our Changing
    Environment. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme,
    Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) 90p.

Please share as appropriate.  Cheers. Gyde.

-- 
H. Gyde Lund  
Forest Information Services
6238 Settlers Trail Place
Gainesville, VA 20155-1374 USA
Tel: +1-703-743-1755
Fax: +1-703-743-1756
Email: [log in to unmask]  
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~gyde/index.html


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