X
  • Afghanistan Support
  • COVID-19
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Technical Areas
      • Overview of Technical Areas
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education and Youth
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Overview of Integrated Solutions
      • Climate Change
      • Digital Development
      • Global Health Supply Chains
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Private Sector Engagement
      • Research and University Partnerships
    • Projects
      • Overview of Projects
      • Creating Stability through Education in Syria
      • Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi
      • Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Where We Work
    • Implementation Regions
      • Overview of Implementation Regions
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
    • Corporate Offices
      • Overview of Corporate Offices
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Chemonics
      • Overview of About Chemonics
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Overview of Our Approach
      • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Our Commitment to Our Industry
      • Our Commitment to Local Leadership
      • Our Commitment to Quality
      • Our Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Work With Us
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Overview of Life at Chemonics
      • Our Benefits
      • Career Paths
      • Professional Development
    • Our Partners
      • Overview of Our Partners
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)
    • Employment
      • Overview of Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
      • U.S. Military Veterans
  • News and Blog
    • News and Blog
    • Recent Impact Stories
      • Overview of Recent Impact Stories
      • Growing the Next Crop of Agri-Tech Entrepreneurs Through Innovation and Scale
      • Innovating Techniques and Technology to Improve Education in Tajikistan
      • Restoring Optimism by Increasing Access to HIV Treatment in Nigeria
      • View all Impact Stories
    • Recent News Stories
      • Overview of Recent News Stories
      • Chemonics Joins Extreme Tech Challenge as a Visionary Sponsor
      • Lebanon Community Support Program Earns Award at SID-US Innovation Competition
      • Chemonics and Partners Host Third Annual Global Digital Development Forum
      • View all News Stories
    • Recent Blog Posts
      • Overview of Recent Blog Posts
      • Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development
      • A New Approach Towards Strengthening Local Capacity and Organizational Leadership
      • A Conversation with Anna Slother on Staff Care and Wellness in Conflict and Crisis
      • View all Blog Posts
Chemonics - Development works here.
  • Afghanistan Support
  • COVID-19
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • What We Do
    • Technical Areas
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education and Youth
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Climate Change
      • Digital Development
      • Global Health Supply Chains
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Private Sector Engagement
      • Research and University Partnerships
    • Projects
      • Creating Stability through Education in Syria
      • Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi
      • Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Implementation Regions
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
    • Corporate Offices
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
  • About Us
    • About Chemonics
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Our Commitment to Our Industry
      • Our Commitment to Local Leadership
      • Our Commitment to Quality
      • Our Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Our Benefits
      • Career Paths
      • Professional Development
    • Our Partners
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)
    • Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
      • U.S. Military Veterans
  • News and Blog
    • Recent Impact Stories
      • Growing the Next Crop of Agri-Tech Entrepreneurs Through Innovation and Scale
      • Innovating Techniques and Technology to Improve Education in Tajikistan
      • Restoring Optimism by Increasing Access to HIV Treatment in Nigeria
      • View all Impact Stories
    • Recent News Stories
      • Chemonics Joins Extreme Tech Challenge as a Visionary Sponsor
      • Lebanon Community Support Program Earns Award at SID-US Innovation Competition
      • Chemonics and Partners Host Third Annual Global Digital Development Forum
      • View all News Stories
    • Recent Blog Posts
      • Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development
      • A New Approach Towards Strengthening Local Capacity and Organizational Leadership
      • A Conversation with Anna Slother on Staff Care and Wellness in Conflict and Crisis
      • View all Blog Posts

A Damselfly Discovery in Angola .

February 25, 2016
  • Impact Stories
  • A Damselfly Discovery in Angola
Scientists in southern Africa have identified a new species of damselfly while working on an environmental program that protects the biodiversity of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin.
SHARE

TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

One of the world’s largest inland water systems, the Cubango-Okavango River Basin, is a vast natural resource for Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. It is an environmental treasure trove that not only provides water for more than 1 million people, but also covers more than 6 million biologically abundant hectares.

Threatened by climate change and overharvesting of its natural resources, the Cubango-Okavango River Basin is one of the key areas that the USAID-funded Southern Africa Regional Environmental Program (SAREP), implemented by Chemonics, aims to protect. The program focuses on conserving biodiversity, improving access to water supply and sanitation services, and developing sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable communities in the region. But the program has also achieved something more surprising: Experts recently discovered a new species of damselfly in the basin’s Cubango and Cuito river systems in eastern Angola.

The journey behind this finding involved expeditions to the river basin, intensive environmental assessments, and years of research to confirm the discovery. Originally found in 2012, the species was only confirmed in early 2016. First, in collaboration with the Angolan Ministry of Environment and an expert team of species specialists, the program’s biodiversity experts led a trip to the Angolan headwaters of the river basin.

There, they conducted a variety of activities, including species collections and habitat profiles. These pieces then came together to inform an aquatic biodiversity survey. With the results of the survey, the team was able to develop a wetland species inventory and conduct assessments of how human development affects biodiversity and water quality. It was in the river’s upper catchment, where rainwater collects, that the species specialists came across the Pseudagrion sarepi damselfly, which was given a name inspired by the SAREP expedition — the Sarep Sprite.

With as many as 85 to 90 percent of the world’s species undescribed and nameless, this discovery is no small feat. And it wasn’t the only discovery during this trek through the Angolan headwaters. The team of experts also unearthed a breadth of biological insights, including five previously unidentified species of fish and five other unidentified species of dragonfly and damselfly.

Dragonflies and damselflies breed in freshwater ecosystems, making the species one of the best biodiversity indicators for water quality. Just as local communities thrive with improved access to clean potable water from the Cubango-Okavango River Basin, species such as the Sarep Sprite depend on clean water for their survival. Accordingly, as more debilitating droughts begin to afflict the region and freshwater resources disappear for local communities, the damselfly species becomes more threatened. Through its efforts to enhance monitoring and protection of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin, SAREP also ensures an intact aquatic habitat for the damselfly.

But it’s not only up to these kinds of programs to protect the region’s biodiversity. River basin communities also have an enormous stake in preservation of their ecosystems, including the most microscopic inhabitants. But many of them lack the information they need to make a difference. Even researchers have limited knowledge of the nature and extent of biodiversity in the Angolan portion of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin.

Aquatic biodiversity, in particular, requires joint monitoring by multiple groups to ensure that every species, from the damselfly to the crocodile, survives environmental shifts that put potable water and freshwater habitats at risk. And improving the ways that local communities manage their water resources, a key activity of the SAREP program, will go a long way.

The Sarep Sprite damselfly is an exciting addition to the Cubango-Okavango River Basin’s kaleidoscopic biodiversity. Discovering a new species in the more than 1,000 kilometers of freshwater that straddle Angola, Botswana, and Namibia is a testimony to the region’s rich ecosystems. Local communities, infrastructural partners, and natural historians alike treasure what is biologically known of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin, but it is what remains unknown that thrills the SAREP program’s team and reaffirms their commitment to environmental sustainability and discovery.

Related Projects


Clean Water and Resource Conservation in Angola, Botswana, and Namibia
View All Projects
You already voted!
  • Projects
  • Impact Stories
  • News and Blog
MOBILIST banner image

Mobilizing Capital Toward the Sustainable Development Goals

Protecting the Natural Wealth of the Colombian Amazon

Integrating a Fresh Approach to Conservation in Bangladesh

Improving Climate Change Development Programs

Connecting Space to Village

Orange and red sky with black landscape

Re-Energizing the Power Sector in Sri Lanka

Balancing Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability in Indonesia

Mitigating Climate Change in Colombia

Conserving Guatemala’s Ecosystems with Good Governance

Natural Resource Management and Water Security in Southern Africa

Helping To Conserve the Peruvian Amazon

Clean Water and Resource Conservation in Angola, Botswana, and Namibia

A Roadmap for Conservation in Colombia

Protecting Marine and Terrestrial Biodiversity in Indonesia

Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi

A wide road with people and cars on it, surrounded by mountains

Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses

Pushing Boundaries in Market System Development

Re-Enforcing Resilience in Communities Across Borders

Researcher in a white lab coat looks through a microscope.

Creating a Dynamic Environment for Research and Innovation Across Africa

View All Projects
Farmer walking in field of crops

Namibian Farmers Fight Effects of Climate Change with Conservation Agriculture

Protecting the Peruvian Amazon

Shocked into Action in Southern Africa

Training Communities to Protect the Cubango-Okavango River Basin

View All Impact Stories
Overhead image of a Nepalese community situated next to a river.

Why Building Strong Local Finance Skills and Systems is Key to Making Good on the Glasgow Climate Pact

3 Building Blocks for Mobilizing Inclusive Climate Finance

Overhead shot of circular farms in South Africa

How Careful Use of Technology Can Guide Climate-Sensitive Peacebuilding

Image of a globe and images that represent climate change

3 Questions with Chris Perine on Chemonics’ Climate Group

Safeguarding Women and Girls with Disabilities During Natural Disasters and External Shocks

News: Chemonics Joins Partners in Anacostia River Cleanup Event

Fisher harvesting aquatic plants on Inle Lake, Myanmar.

From Threat to Solution: Rethinking the Role of Communities in Nature Conservation

Brian App

Development Works Here with Brian App

Alejandro_Arrivillaga

Development Works Here with Alejandro Arrivillaga

The Politics of Biodiversity: Two Experiences with Thinking and Working Politically

News: Chemonics at Global Innovation Week

Wildlife and Plant Trafficking – Is Prohibition the Only Answer?

Creativity and Innovation During a Global Crisis

How to Fail to Succeed

Group of young people standing on the street looking up at camera

Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development

Enhancing Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management for Improved Health Outcomes

A New Approach Towards Strengthening Local Capacity and Organizational Leadership

A Conversation with Anna Slother on Staff Care and Wellness in Conflict and Crisis

Advancing Bed Net Coverage for Malaria Vector Control: Lessons from DRC

Image of animated malaria pills and malaria-related items

World Malaria Day: Advancing Equity, Building Resilience, Ending Malaria

View All News and Blog

Sign up for our eNewsletter to learn more about our work.

Sign Up
  • What We Do
  • Where We Work
  • Who We Are
  • Work With Us
  • News and Blog
  • Technical Areas
    • Agriculture and Food Security
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Democracy and Governance
    • Economic Growth and Trade
    • Education and Youth
    • Environment and Natural Resources
    • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
    • Health
    • Peace, Stability, and Transition
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
  • Regions
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe and Eurasia
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Middle East and North Africa
  • Staff Resources
  • Employment
    • Life at Chemonics
    • Internships
  • Partner
    • Search for a Job
    • Our Procurements
    • How to Become a Partner
    • Small Business Partners Form
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram
  • Standards of Conduct
  • Data Privacy Policies