mad about maps, landscape restoration, cambisol, Anton Pijl, Teun Vogel, impact mapping, regreening

Mad about maps: landscape restoration in Ethiopia

We love maps. The map on the poster you are looking at was created for and together with Acacia Water, and we decided to develop this large poster because we love the end result. Hope you do too.

The poster is the result of a combination of map madness, a pinch of love for landscape restoration, a hint of craziness, a small mapathlon in a beach bar in The Hague, and it is a thank-you to our Aardig-voor-de-aarde-community for supporting us.

What do I see?

The area you see is a small part of the river catchment in Bu’i, Ethiopia. The water system is part of the Ziway Shalla basin, each drop ends up in the Ziway Lake. We mapped the area for and with Acacia Water in their project with Wetlands International for The Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Fun fact: the water never reaches a sea or ocean directly. It follows the fabulous Rift Valley, leading to… a lake in Djibouti.

The duality of water in the landscape

The map also contains a more philosophical side, reflecting our work and vision. There is a clear contrast between the left-half and right-half of the map. The left is lush, and coloured green and blue. The right is barren, red and yellow.

These contrasting sides reflect the duality of water in the landscape. Water gives and water takes. rainwater can turn a fragile ecosystem into a lush green oasis. Yet, rainwater can also erode an unvegetated hillside into a barren wasteland (a.k.a. badland).

Our mission is to find and create balanced conditions for water to restore landscapes.

Mapping landscape restoration impact

The extent of this map is taken from Ethiopia, but in theory it could be done anywhere on the planet.

It shows what we love to do: mapping restoration impact. We believe it is possible to regreen areas, to bring back life in degraded zones, and like to map this, show this, prove the impact of interventions. Curious how? We made short documentary about it!

I want one too!

Do you want a copy of this beautiful poster too? Let us know through e-mail (including your name and post address) and we might send you one so you can hang it at a beautiful spot.