Exploring the political geoecology of African Drainage Basins

[From the text] Many people in Africa rely directly on their natural ecosystems for their livelihoods. A key driver of these ecosystems is water, which in Africa has a high spatial and temporal variability. Water comes from rainfall, but the availability of that water depends on the way that it is processed through the landscape unit known as a drainage basin. Drainage basins are the "home" of rivers; rivers which sustain ecosystems and their dependents (human society). Humans and ecosystems cannot live apart from one another, but the relationship can be exploitative and degrading, or harmonious and protective. Throughout history human activity has been subject to direct controls and indirect pressures subjected by the larger society, through political, economic and cultural forces that are often intertwined. Rivers are especially sensitive to the geography of this relationship. Being longitudinal ecosystems that transfer water and other materials from the source of the river to the oceans, activities in upstream areas have a direct impact on downstream areas. To explore these socio-ecological relationships within the context of an African drainage basin I have developed the concept of political geoecology that is explored in this address