According to a statement from the municipal administration of Cuvango, to which VerAngola had access, the studies aim to identify and preserve the diversity of plant and animal species that "abound in the rivers" of Angola, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
Started this Thursday, "in the municipality of Cuvango, the second phase of scientific studies on the biodiversity potential of the vast Okavango-Zambezi basin, affects the province of Huíla, whose purpose is to identify and preserve the variety of plant and animal species that abound in the rivers located in Angola, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia, in an initiative of National Geographic since 2018", reads the note.
During a meeting with the municipal administrator of Cuvango, Luís Paulo Ndala, the person in charge of the team responsible for the study, Paulo Prestana, informed that "the study also includes several expeditions aimed at addressing the alignment, protection, preservation and conservation of Angola's rivers, mainly the Okavango basin, which supplies water to millions of inhabitants in the region".
In the first phase of the study in the aforementioned basin, more than 400 species of birds were discovered, as well as more than 90 varieties of fish and reptiles, among others.
"During the first phase of the study in the Okavango river basin, 407 species of birds, 92 varieties of fish, 99 reptiles, 14 species of plants and also considerable numbers of mammals and amphibians were discovered," the note says.
