African water resource database

The African Water Resource Database (AWRD) is a set of data and custom-designed tools, combined in a geographic information system (GIS) analytical framework aimed at facilitating responsible inland aquatic resource management with a specific focus on inland fisheries and aquaculture. It thus provides an instrument to promote food security. The AWRD data archive includes an extensive collection of datasets covering the African continent, including: surface waterbodies, watersheds, aquatic species, rivers, political boundaries, population density, soils, satellite imagery and many other physiographic and climatological data. To display and analyze the archival data, it also contains a large assortment of new custom applications and tools programed to run under version 3 of the ArcView GIS software environment (ArcView 3.x). The AWRD publication is organized in two parts. The first part describes the AWRD and is divided into two main sections. The first presents a general overview and is addressed to administrators and managers while the second is written for professionals in technical fields. The second part is a "how to" supplement and includes a technical manual for spatial analysts and a workbook for university students and teachers. The primary AWRD interface, tool-sets and data integral to the function of the AWRD are distributed in two DVD's accompanying part 2 of this publication.