Streamflow and lake water level changes and their attributed causes in Eastern and Southern Africa: state of the art review

Abstract

The objective of this review is to evaluate recent quantitative changes in streamflow and lake water levels in drainage basins of Eastern and Southern Africa. Findings indicate that the majority of analyzed case studies report decreasing streamflow or lake water levels between 1970 and 2010. The causes of change are chiefly anthropogenic, namely water withdrawal, land use and land cover change, and dams, and only to a lesser degree climate-related. However, there are distinct regional and temporal differences regarding reported changes and causes, e.g. land use and land cover change being mainly attributed to Eastern Africa, and dams to Southern Africa.

Keywords:

• Africa
• water resources
• streamflow
• floods
• land use change
• climate change

Funding

This work was supported by funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany, under the international research project Trans-SEC (Innovating Strategies to Safeguard Food Security using Technology and Knowledge Transfer: A People-Centred Approach, FKZ: 031A249A).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.