Angola has designated the country’s first Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention after years of scientific research that mapped peatland systems, measured regional water resources, and documented previously unrecorded species.
The designation recognises the Lisima Lya Mwono landscape in the central and southeastern highlands of Moxico Province as a critical part of the Okavango Basin, underscoring the area’s importance for biodiversity and water security across southern Africa. The site’s name translates to “Source of Life” in the Luchaze language.
Since 2015, the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project (NGOWP) has been working with communities and governments to secure permanent, sustainable protection for the Lisima landscape and the greater Okavango Basin, which spans Angola, Namibia, and Botswana. The newly named Ramsar site spans an area that is nearly 53,670km2, and is home to the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT), which supplies 95% of the Okavango Delta’s water.
The NGOWP team’s research found the AHWT holds 423km³ of water, equivalent of nearly 170-million Olympic swimming pools. The Ramsar designation for the Lisima landscape and AHWT is critical to the future food and water security of millions of people across seven African countries, one of Africa’s largest remaining elephant populations, and some of the continent’s most vibrant ecosystems.
Further, Ramsar designation for Lisima Lya Mwono is expected to heighten international awareness for this cultural and spiritual landmark that is the pride of Angola’s natural heritage. It aims to provide enhanced protection for the area, strengthens co-operation between countries that share its water resources, and creates opportunities for livelihoods around wetland management.
To make the case for Ramsar designation, and longer-term, formal protection of the landscape, the NGOWP team has combined rigorous science with traditional knowledge to demonstrate its importance. The team’s efforts include mapping Africa’s second largest peatland ecosystem and carrying out extensive biodiversity surveys. These surveys have led to the documentation of 73 new species to academic science, at least 275 potentially new to science, and 300 never previously recorded in Angola.
Through the Okavango Eternal partnership with De Beers, operating across Angola, Namibia, and Botswana, the NGOWP team has been able to scale and accelerate groundbreaking and essential research that has helped facilitate this designation. The Okavango Eternal partnership supports continued biodiversity surveys in the region, research and mapping analyses that help guide conservation priorities and management, stakeholder convenings with local communities and governments, and storytelling around the people and wildlife who depend on the freshwater resources of this Ramsar site. The Ramsar designation represents a step toward one of the partnership’s key goals: formally protecting 5.4-million hectares around the Okavango Basin’s headwaters.
In addition to working toward formal systems of protection, the NGOWP team actively works alongside community members to recognise and support local areas where biodiversity is already thriving under their care, ensuring traditional knowledge and conservation go hand-in-hand.
“The Ramsar designation for Lisima Lya Mwono in Angola has been years in the making,” says Ian Miller, national geographic society chief science officer. “This is a testament to the power of collaboration between governments, organizations and local communities who have stewarded this ecosystem for millennia, and our partners through Okavango Eternal.
“Their rigorous scientific research, preservation of traditional knowledge, and storytelling about the importance of these water resources helped raise the profile of the critical ecological and cultural importance of this area. This designation is the first of many actions needed to help to achieve the goal of permanent, sustainable protection for the greater Okavango Basin.
“We are grateful that the government of Angola and the Ramsar Convention have taken this important step in recognising the Lisima Lya Mwono as a Wetland of International Importance.”
Steve Boyes, National Geographic explorer and leader of NGOWP, says: “The Luchaze people of the eastern Angolan Highlands have been in the business of clean air and freshwater for millennia. To them, the source lakes and forests of the Lisima Lya Mwono landscape are sacred. Now, this important Ramsar designation as the world’s fifth largest globally-important wetland ecosystem, recognises what local communities have long known: these vast forested watersheds and peatland are keystone to the long-term water and food security of millions of people downstream, as well as previously-undocumented populations of endangered species like lion, cheetah, African wild dog, and elephant.
“Guided by local river guardians, we’ve discovered new and potentially new species to science in this emerging centre of endemism. In 2023, we described the Angolan Highlands Water Tower for the first time, within academic science. This Ramsar site is part of what is one of southern Africa’s most important hydrological structures. In partnership with the Government of Angola, we will continue working with local communities to secure sustainable, long-term protections for the ‘Source of Life’.”
Kerllen Costa, National Geographic explorer and country director for NGOWP Angola, says: “The declaration of Lisima Lya Mwono as Angola’s first Ramsar site is a huge moment of pride and celebration of Angola’s unique natural heritage. It is validation and recognition not merely of the beauty of the country’s natural wonder, but of the commitment of the local communities – who have been the true Guardians of this landscape for millennia – and that of the Angolan government.
“This landscape is only as pristine and intact as it is, because of the intrinsic traditions and ways of life of its inhabitants, the Luchazi people. In their day to day principles of life, they have, for time immemorial, enacted the true concept of sustainability and preserved the balance of natural resource usage, protecting the sources and its rivers, the sacred lakes and forests, and the uncountable number of species that give this ecosystem its unique character and provide life and water to several countries and millions of people downstream. They have sustained this landscape through their traditions and ancestral knowledge, and have been instrumental in the work of NGOWP.”
Sandrine Conseiller, De Beers Group CEO for brands and diamond desirability, says: “Achieving Ramsar designation in Angola is a moment of immense pride for the Okavango Eternal partnership. Over the past five years, De Beers has worked with National Geographic in Angola, Botswana and Namibia to support the on-the-ground delivery of science, training, community engagement and advocacy that have helped make this milestone possible. This designation marks a significant step in formally protecting this critical landscape and its precious source waters, and reflects our belief that natural diamonds – treasures of the natural world – can make life brilliant, in this case supporting the Okavango Basin for future generations.”