Craig Beech, Peace Parks Foundation South Africa with Willem van Riet
cbeech@ppf.org.za
In order to identify wildlife corridors within the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique,
which is a constiuent part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, the following data
and infromation with an overlay analysis was used.
LNP was proclaimed a National Park in 2003. The core of the park has been "cut-off"
from the Limpopo River which forms the eastern boundary of the National Park. In order
to allow wildlife access to this river course - as the interior of the Park is predominantly
landveld with very seasonal water supply. Furthermore the importance of the larger
mammal movements going further east to such Parks as Banhine & Zinave National
Parks is a strong future consideration within the realms of the Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Conservation Area.
Land Cover Values:
The land cover classes were weighted according to their contribution to ecological
corridors. Most intact habitats were weighted highly, and those most impacted or offering
little to no access for ecological linkages were weighted low to zero.
Habitat Value:
Habitat Value Index reflects a range of habitats, from untouched and intact ecosystems to
severely impacted and degraded systems. The most intact were again weighted high.
Combined Sensitivity:
This layer reflects the combined Sensitivity and cascades from low values with no
specific value and/or sensitivity to areas with the highest value and/or sensitivity. It
highlights areas standing out as particularly valuable for land uses pertaining to
ecotourism and wildlife and significant to ecological linkages
Hydrological Sensitivity:
This layer highlights areas vital to the maintenance of hydrological processes, as well as
areas where infrastructure could be damaged by fluvial action.
Weighted Overlay Analysis:
A weighted overlay analysis was done, combining Land Cover (50%) + Habitat Value
(25%) + Combined Sensitivity (20%) + Slope (3%) + Hydological Sensitivity (2%). The
brackets denote the respective weightings used.
3D View of Corridors:
The corridors were verified by both air and ground based crews. Although, within the
corridors, there are human impacts - settlements, cultivated lands, and other impacts,
these will need to be rehabilitated so as to allow for the corridor linkages. The 3D view
shows the corridor linkages in dark blue, and the extruded boundaries, and the flight
paths flown during the verification.
This map poster, reads from the top left in a sequence of input layers and analyses to the
derived corridors. The 3D view, facing from NE, allows the user to visualise the corridors
as they link from the river back to the core of the Park. This map has helped the park
authorities look at prioritised intervention to create and manage opn connectivity along
these zones to the river, management and preventing human widlife conflict.