Appalachian State University

Appalachian State University's mission is to discover, create, transmit, and apply knowledge to address the needs of individuals and society. This award supports an assessment of impacts on biodiversity and socioeconomic development across the African Great Lakes Region. In partnership with the University of Virginia, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Wildlife Conservation Society’s Uganda program, Appalachian State University is modeling disruptions to the watershed from various anthropogenic threats, including climate change. Predictions incorporate available data on urbanization, deforestation, expansion of biofuel production, and other forms of landscape conversion that contribute to climate change. The assessment responds to stakeholder concerns about how climate change will drive environmental futures across the African Great Lakes watersheds, particularly anticipated shifts in arable land, and changes to disease vectors.

Appalachian State University's mission is to discover, create, transmit, and apply knowledge to address the needs of individuals and society. The project is establishing a climate-monitoring network across the African Great Lakes region, recruiting data on water provision, runoff, net primary production, and carbon stocks. These data feed into the Community Earth System Model, a cutting-edge tool developed by the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research that predicts climate change impacts on agricultural zones, riparian wetlands, near-shore fisheries and shoreline communities, and suitable livestock range. An interactive web portal will provide access to these data, and display future climate scenarios for each lake basin.

The Appalachian State University’s mission is to discover, create, transmit, and apply knowledge to address the needs of individuals and society. Project staff will use the Community Earth System Model, a cutting-edge tool developed by the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, to generate simulations of future environmental conditions of the Lake Tanganyika watershed at ultra-high spatial resolutions. These simulations will inform conservation planning and implementation for conservation organizations working in the watershed.