Freshwater biodiversity of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe: Assessing conservation priorities using primary species-occurrence data

The Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe harbors several freshwater species of conservation interest, such as birds, invertebrates, fish and amphibians, whose numbers and distribution are little known. The impacts of the on-going human activities and threats such as agricultural expansion, illegal mining activities and introduction of alien invasive species on the local wetland biodiversity, and the integrity of the ecosystem in the region is also not very clear. A related problem is the inaccessibility and unavailability of the relevant data on the wetland biodiversity from previous studies and surveys, for policy and decision making in the area. This project seeks to mobilise the much required data on freshwater biodiversity in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and make use of Biodiversity Informatics tools to identify the important sites for Conservation of Freshwater biodiversity, with a focus on fish, invertebrates, amphibians and bird species in the region. The outputs from this project will therefore help to show policy makers. Wildlife managers, researchers and conservationists where to target resources and conservation effort should be target and will help protect the biodiversity that still occur in the unprotected wetlands of this region, that could be lost to human activities such as clearing for agriculture.