Hydrology - Rivers, Wetlands and Lakes
The physiographic nature of the area and the associated climatic conditions have endowed the BMNP with water resources and vast wetland ecosystems including over 40 streams and rivers together with many alpine lakes, wetlands and swamps. However, the knowledge and information on the processes and dynamics of these resources is almost negligible and, furthermore, the hydrological system of the BMNP and downstream rivers are under severe threat. The increase in the human population, widespread poverty, the demand for grazing and agricultural land in the catchment areas, and the demand for water for domestic and irrigation uses, lead to the unsustainable utilization of the watershed. The scale of these impacts varies with the course of each river. In BMNP the most degraded rivers are those with severe human activities in the upland river basin, where precipitation is heaviest and the catchment area is ecologically sensitive. In the BMNP, rivers cross through areas of different land uses - such as settlement, grazing land and agriculture - and different land cover - including Afroalpine grassland and shrublands, Ericaceous shrub, and montane forest. If not carefully managed, human activities can directly or indirectly modify the soil, vegetation, and water in the catchment areas. All the land uses occurring at the higher course of rivers leads to reduction of the water quality and quantity at the lower course. The situation is therefore worst for biodiversity and people in the lowlands areas that are dependent on these rivers in the dry season.
Because of fragility of the area, increasing human pressure, associated land cover changes, and ecosystem degradation, the BMNP watershed may experience major changes in the future. Thus, research is now being undertaken to understand and monitor the hydrological dynamics of BMNP for management purposes. Since it is difficult to identify natural changes in the absence of long-term data this water monitoring project will provide the basic long-term data necessary to guide watershed management including: (i) baseline river flow and quality during wet and dry seasons, (ii) long-term trends in water flow and quality in areas affected and unaffected by human land use, (iii) trends in watershed dynamics and assess natural and human induced changes, and (iv) soil and vegetation properties that are likely to affect the hydrological system (e.g. vegetation cover, erosion, runoff).
This work is being conducted by Mohammednur Jemal from the Bale Mountains National Park in collaboration with Frankfurt Zoological Society and assistance from Eric Wolanski at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.