Africa - River Network (FAO AQUASTAT)

Major hydrological basin boundaries across Africa delineated from hydrologically corrected elevation data derived from HydroSHEDS and Hydro1K datasets. Each polygon represents a drainage basin defined by its watershed boundary, with attributes for basin name, area, and sub-basin coding. Use this layer for transboundary water governance, river basin management, flood risk assessment, water resource planning, and catchment-level environmental analysis across Africa. No additional information provided.

Global network of major rivers derived from HydroSHEDS at 15 arc-second resolution. Includes all rivers with a catchment area above the threshold for major streams, with attributes for river name, stream order, and basin affiliation. Use this layer for global hydrological analysis, international river basin governance, and continental-scale water resource mapping. No additional information provided.

The rivers of Africa dataset is derived from the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) HydroSHEDS drainage direction layer and a stream network layer. The source of the drainage direction layer was the 15-second Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM). The raster stream network was determined by using the HydroSHEDS flow accumulation grid, with a threshold of about 1000 km² upstream area. The stream network dataset consists of the following information: the origin node of each arc in the network (FROM_NODE), the destination of each arc in the network (TO_NODE), the Strahler stream order of each arc in the network (STRAHLER), numerical code and name of the major basin that the arc falls within (MAJ_BAS and MAJ_NAME); - area of the major basin in square km that the arc falls within (MAJ_AREA); - numerical code and name of the sub-basin that the arc falls within (SUB_BAS and SUB_NAME); - area of the sub-basin in square km that the arc falls within (SUB_AREA); - numerical code of the sub-basin towards which the sub-basin flows that the arc falls within (TO_SUBBAS) (the codes -888 and -999 have been assigned respectively to internal sub-basins and to sub-basins draining into the sea). The attributes table now includes a field named "Regime" with tentative classification of perennial ("P") and intermittent ("I") streams. **Data publication:** 2014-03-05 **Supplemental Information:** This dataset is developed as part of a GIS-based information system on water resources for the African continent. It has been published in the framework of the AQUASTAT - programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. **Time coverage**: 2014 **Contact points:** Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) Resource Contact: [Jippe Hoogeveen](mailto:Jippe.Hoogeveen@fao.org) Resource Contact: [Livia Peiser](mailto:Livia.Peiser@fao.org) **Data lineage:** The linework of the map was obtained by converting the stream network to a feature dataset with the Hydrology toolset in ESRI ArcGIS.The Flow Direction and Stream Order grids were derived from hydrologically corrected elevation data with a resolution of 15 arc-seconds.The elevation dataset was part of a mapping product, HydroSHEDS, developed by the Conservation Science Program of World Wildlife Fund.Original input data had been obtained during NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). **Resource constraints:** This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY-4.0) **Online resources:** Download - Rivers of Africa (ESRI shapefile) Hydrological basins in Africa Download - Rivers data documentation (PDF) General information regarding the HydroSHEDS data product HydroSHEDS dataset download and technical information

Vectorised line network of all rivers across Africa with a catchment area of at least 10 km² or an average river flow of at least 0.1 m³/sec. Derived from the HydroSHEDS database at 15 arc-second resolution. Includes river order, reach length, distance from headwaters and ocean outlet, and long-term average discharge estimates. Use this layer for river network analysis, watershed studies, flood modelling, infrastructure siting near water bodies, and hydrological connectivity analysis across Africa. No additional information provided.

This dataset divides the African continent in major hydrological basins and their sub-basins according to its hydrological characteristics. It was obtained by delineating drainage basin boundaries from hydrologically corrected elevation data (WWF HydroSHEDS and Hydro1K). The dataset consists of the following information:- numerical code and name of the major basin (MAJ_BAS and MAJ_NAME); - area of the major basin in square km (MAJ_AREA); - numerical code and name of the sub-basin (SUB_BAS and SUB_NAME); - area of the sub-basin in square km (SUB_AREA); - numerical code of the sub-basin towards which the sub-basin flows (TO_SUBBAS) (the codes -888 and -999 have been assigned respectively to internal sub-basins and to sub-basins draining into the sea) **Data publication:** 2021-12-15 **Supplemental Information:** This dataset is developed as part of a GIS-based information system on water resources for the African continent. It has been published in the framework of the AQUASTAT - programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. **Contact points:** Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) Resource Contact: [Jippe Hoogeveen](mailto:jippe.hoogeveen@fao.org) **Data lineage:** The linework of the map was obtained by delineating drainage basin boundaries from hydrologically corrected elevation data with a resolution of 15 arc-seconds.The elevation dataset was part of a mapping product, HydroSHEDS, developed by the Conservation Science Program of World Wildlife Fund. Original input data had been obtained during NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). For general information regarding the HydroSHEDS data product: http://www.worldwildlife.org/hydrosheds For dataset download and technical information:http://hydrosheds.cr.usgs.gov https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog//iso/7707086d-af3c-41cc-8aa5-323d8609b2d1 **Online resources:** Download - Hydrological basins in Africa (ESRI shapefile) General information regarding the HydroSHEDS data product HydroSHEDS dataset download and technical information Rivers of Africa

The rivers of Central America dataset is derived from the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) HydroSHEDS drainage direction layer and a stream network layer. The source of the drainage direction layer was the 15-second Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM). The raster stream network was determined by using the HydroSHEDS flow accumulation grid, with a threshold of about 1000 km² upstream area. The stream network dataset consists of the following information: the origin node of each arc in the network (FROM_NODE), the destination of each arc in the network (TO_NODE), the Strahler stream order of each arc in the network (STRAHLER), numerical code and name of the major basin that the arc falls within (MAJ_BAS and MAJ_NAME); - area of the major basin in square km that the arc falls within (MAJ_AREA); - numerical code and name of the sub-basin that the arc falls within (SUB_BAS and SUB_NAME); - area of the sub-basin in square km that the arc falls within (SUB_AREA); - numerical code of the sub-basin towards which the sub-basin flows that the arc falls within (TO_SUBBAS) (the codes -888 and -999 have been assigned respectively to internal sub-basins and to sub-basins draining into the sea). The attributes table now includes a field named "Regime" with tentative classification of perennial ("P") and intermittent ("I") streams. **Data revision:** 2014-03-05 **Supplemental Information:** This dataset is developed as part of a GIS-based information system on water resources for the Central American continent. It has been published in the framework of the AQUASTAT - programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. **Time coverage**: 2014 **Contact points:** Resource Contact: [Jippe Hoogeveen](mailto:Jippe.Hoogeveen@fao.org) Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** The linework of the map was obtained by converting the stream network to a feature dataset with the Hydrology toolset in ESRI ArcGIS.The Flow Direction and Stream Order grids were derived from hydrologically corrected elevation data with a resolution of 15 arc-seconds.The elevation dataset was part of a mapping product, HydroSHEDS, developed by the Conservation Science Program of World Wildlife Fund.Original input data had been obtained during NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). **Resource constraints:** This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY-4.0) **Online resources:** Download - Rivers of Central America (ESRI shapefile) Technical information on the data source More updated information on HydroSHEDS 2025