SASSCAL - Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management
Photo: Alexander Gröngröft, IfB, UHH
Project description
Climate change is leading to an increase in the number of years with precipitation and temperature conditions in southern Africa that deviate significantly from the long-term average; among other things, an increase in droughts, possibly also floods, is therefore to be expected. Within the framework of the joint project "SASSCAL", two topics are thus being investigated: In the first question (Task 43: Monitoring agricultural ecosystems with regard to climate change effects), the influence of the expansion of arable land into dry forests in the Namibian region "Zambesi" and in the south-west of Zambia on the stocks of organic matter and the availability of soil nutrients is specifically recorded. The aim is to integrate the findings into optimised land management adapted to the climate and soil conditions.
The second question (Task 72: Influence of bush encroachment on groundwater resources) analyses how the spread of woody plants in the savannahs of Namibia affects the soil water balance and thus the potential groundwater recharge. These investigations are carried out by means of long-standing measuring stations on three farms. The aim is to gather knowledge on the water balance of the savannahs in its interaction with the vegetation cover in order to derive strategies for a management that also takes groundwater resources into account.
Cooperation partners
- University of Namibia (UNAM), Windhoek
- Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST), Windhoek
- Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), Otjiwarongo
- Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Windhoek
Employees at the Institute of Soil Science
- Doctoral candidate: Marleen de Blécourt (completed)
- Engineer: Volker Kleinschmidt
- Duration: 2012 - 2018
- Project lead: Prof. Dr. Annette Eschenbach, Dr. Alexander Gröngröft, (retired)
- Sponsor: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)