Ecological Changes in the Zambezi River Basin

is a Freshwater Ecologist who was based in the Department of Freshwater and Fishery Sciences, School of Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation at Chinhoyi University of Technology during the writing of this book. Currently, she is a Program Specialist at START International in charge of the Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands (FRACTAL) and other programs. Mzime’s research interests include aquatic ecology, fishery sciences, plankton ecology, climate modelling, adaptation, vulnerability, and impact assessments, as well as water resources management, sustainability sciences and development. Mzime has been involved in several trans-disciplinary research and development programmes including the IDRC-funded African Climate Change Fellowship Programme (ACCFP), the DFID-funded Climate Implementation Research Capacity Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE), the NERC-funded as well as the World Climate Research Programme-commissioned Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX Africa) in the role of a Trainer and Evaluator, Principal Investigator and Mentor, Coordinator, and Research Team Member. Mzime has a BSc (Honours) in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe and attained a PhD degree from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

is an Aquatic ecologist with extensive experience in fish ecology, limnology, aquatic resources management, and climate change issues. Ismael has more than 16 years of working in the great lakes of East Africa and has authored and co-authored 35 peer-reviewed journal articles. His Master’s research focused on how limnological parameters affect fish catches in Lake Tanganyika, while his Doctorate research studied the nursery function of coastal habitats to coral reef fishes in Tanzania. Ismael has worked with a consortium of Belgian universities and institutes to study how Lake Tanganyika and its fisheries respond to climate change. His current research focuses on how climate change in Lake Tanganyika is affecting the fisheries of the lake and community livelihoods. He is currently the Director-General of the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute.Previously, he worked as the Centre Director for the same organization in Kigoma for the past decade. Ismael holds BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees from the University of Dar es Salaam and a PhD in Ecology from the Radboud University
Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

holds a PhD in Development Studies and is currently the International Collaborations Manager at Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe. She has conducted livelihoods and vulnerability assessments, gender analysis in CBNRM and climate change adaptation and institutional and stakeholder analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Chipo has worked with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the DFID-funded African Climate Change Fellowship Programme both as a Doctoral Fellow and as the Senior Programme Officer at the Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam. Chipo was awarded a World Social Science Fellowship in Sustainable Urbanization by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) in 2013 and has been involved in applied research, specifically on enabling rural innovations through linking farmers to markets and understanding social dynamics for farmers in participatory action research. Chipo has also been involved in engaging local-level stakeholders in a multidisciplinary setting in various development-oriented research projects both as Principal Investigator and co-researcher. Her research interests are in rural development, agriculture, and natural resource management and rural/urban climate change adaptation and decision making.

is a Freshwater Ecologist with a passion for excellence which is driven by the desire to continue to grow in knowledge and leadership, excel in applied aquatic ecology, interact and share with regional and international colleagues, and develop excellent solutions to challenges facing freshwater resources. His main areas of expertise (with extensive publications) include river health assessment, biological monitoring of aquatic systems, aquatic ecotoxicology, and integrated water resources management. He is also interested and has knowledge in climate change impacts, ecological modelling of freshwater systems and bioremediation of aquatic systems. Currently, he is advising a group of researchers working on a locally funded research project entitled, ‘Building adaptive capacity to mitigate
effects on climate change on ecosystems and livelihoods dependent on rivers in Mashonaland West Province: case study of Makonde and Sanyati District’. He graduated with a PhD degree in Ecology and Natural Resources from the Federal University of São Carlos-SP, Brazil in June 2011; has an MSc. degree in Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries (2003-2005) and a BSc Honours degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Zimbabwe.

is an Associate Professor in Water Engineering at the University of Malawi-The Polytechnic and is also a former Director of the Centre for Water, Sanitation, Health and Technology Development (WASHTED). He teaches undergraduate courses in Engineering Hydrology, Hydraulics, and Water Resources Management in the Department of Civil Engineering. He has a PhD in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota, USA; a Master of Science degree in Water Engineering from the University of Newcastle, England; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Earth Sciences from the University of Malawi.

is a Lecturer in Freshwater Ecology in the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where she teaches limnology and watershed management. She is also a lecturer in stream ecosystem concepts and stream integrity assessment in the International joint Master’s degree in Limnology and Wetland Management Programme (Boku University-Austria, Egerton University-Kenya and UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands). Dr. Kaaya has been doing research in the rivers and lakes of Tanzania for 15 years. Her research focus is around the ecological role and functions of freshwater ecosystems in the management of water resources. She has been providing professional consultation on the integration of ecology into watershed management approaches in Tanzania, i.e., Environmental Flow Assessment, River Health Assessments and establishment of integrated water resources management and development plans. Her Ph.D. thesis titled “Biological Assessment of Tropical Riverine Systems Using Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Tanzania, East Africa’’ provides a detailed analysis of bioassessment from the regional perspective. She has published nine peer-reviewed articles and conducted several outreach programmes on bioassessment.

is a seasoned Hydrologist working with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation in Tanzania. He has worked with the Ministry since 2000 where he later served as an Assistant Director responsible for Water Resources Planning, Research and Development in from 2012. In 2019, he was appointed the Director of Water Resources Department of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. He has participated in several water resources management projects, most notably the Pangani River Basin Management Project (PRBMP) which focused on flow assessment and environmental flow analyses in the basin. He supervised the preparation of Integrated Water Resources Management and Development (IWRMD) plans for different basins in Tanzania which are the blueprints for holistic sustainable water resources management and development. Dr Lugomela has specialized in groundwater hydrology, particularly numerical modeling of groundwater flow and contaminant transport using the Finite Element Method where he has several publications. He also lectures on a part-time basis in Groundwater Hydrology and Modeling at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NMAIST).

is a Freshwater Ecologist and has served as a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology at the University of Dar es Salaam, and the Director General of TAFIRI. His research interests include nutrient dynamics in aquatic systems, fish biodiversity and fisheries management, and construction and management of aquaculture systems. He has previously undertaken the first field based study for estimating atmospheric phosphorus deposition in Lake Victoria and has been a Lead Scientist in a number of studies on fish biodiversity assessment and fisheries for Environmental Flow Assessments (EFAs), EIAs and Audits of mining and hydropower projects in Tanzania and Kenya. He has also participated in the preparation of the Integrated Water Resources Management and Development Plans (IWRMDP) for several River Basins of Tanzania and conducted a review of the General Management Plan for the Mnazi Bay-Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP). Dr. Rashid Tamatamah is currently the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Tanzania.

holds a PhD in natural resources management from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She obtained an MSc degree in Management of Agriculture Knowledge and Information Systems from the same university. Tendayi also has a BSc Agriculture Honours degree (with specialisation in Agricultural Economics) from the University of Zimbabwe. For more than fifteen years, Tendayi has worked on designing and implementing projects for communities to adapt to change (including climate change) in the following fields: agriculture, forestry and fisheries. She has worked in several African countries including Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda and Ethiopia, and has assisted several teams to design and implement projects, enhance community resilience and adaptive capacity. Tendayi has strong interest in the following topics: natural resources management, participatory action research, adaptive
collaborative management, climate change adaptation and community-based natural resources management.

is a scientist who works at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology and is currently a Doctoral student at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Semba is specialized in earth observation using geographical information systems and remote sensing technology to tackle science-based questions facing society. Semba is currently working with NOAA/AOML’s Physical Oceanography Division (PhOD) through the global drifters programme. In this project, Semba is testing several aspects of global ocean observing systems by combining satellite altimetry and drifter observations to uncover the ocean circulation dynamics in the western Indian Ocean region.

is a Conservation Ecologist based in the Department of Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation at Chinhoyi University of Technology. Tongayi has special interests in biomonitoring and hydro-ecology in which he has authored and co-authored a number of papers in international, peer-reviewed journals. He is also knowledgeable regarding climate change impacts and modelling. His current research focuses on modelling environmental flow requirements and biotic response on streams impacted by anthropogenic activities and climate change. He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management from the National University of Science and a DPhil from Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe.

was previously a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Freshwater and Fishery Sciences at Chinhoyi University of Technology (2013- 2016). Her research interests lie in the area of River Health Assessments, Biological Monitoring and Ecotoxicology. In recent years, she has concentrated on research on the response of biotic assemblages to changes in water quality in different land-use settings. Tinotenda is a fellow of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and she is also involved in organizations such as the Southern African Wildlife Management Association (SAWMA) and is currently based at University of Rhodes, South Africa.

has been involved in several research projects, including but not restricted to, both natural and social sciences. Judith is interested in a wide range of issues in applied ecology and conservation, principally in the natural science field. She has found her research passion in the context of rural development and socio-ecosystems, and received a grant from the Rufford’s Trust to carry out a study on human-wildlife interactions, with a focus on the pangolin, which is biologically interesting and poses important questions for conservation in the domains of trade and sociology as well as ecology. She realized the importance of using the holistic management approach; a trait which got her involved in various social projects including the OXFAM Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) project in Zimbabwe. Judith completed an MSc at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, studying the phylogeography and diversity of Anurans in the Wild Coast forests (Eastern Cape) and macro and micro-evolutionary phenomena. She is currently working as a Program Coordinator at SIVIO Institute, a policy think tank in Harare, Zimbabwe.

is an emerging Conservation Ecologist who kick-started her career at Chinhoyi University of Technology and Kyle Recreational Park in Zimbabwe. Her major research interests lie in aquatic ecology, especially biomonitoring of river systems and how climate affects river systems and livelihoods. In an effort
to bridge the gap between scientific reporting to peers and communication to the lay public, she has been actively involved in science communication. Sandra has worked as a Research Assistant under a World Bank-funded project in Harare and is currently completing an MPhil at Chinhoyi University of Technology under the CDKN-Df ID-NERC funded Future Climate for Africa’s Future Resilience
for African Cities and Lands (FRACTAL) Project that focuses on the nexus between climate, water and energy for the city of Harare in Zimbabwe. She is also a Program Coordinator at Institute for Young Women Development, an NGO based in Bindura, Zimbabwe.