Investments in Management
and Rehabilitation of Natural Resources
Central to Conflict Resolution and Peace
Building in Sudan Says UN Environment Programme
Geneva/Nairobi, 22 June 2007 - Sudan is
unlikely to see a lasting peace unless widespread
and rapidly accelerating environmental degradation
is urgently addressed.
A new assessment of the country, including
the troubled region of Darfur, indicates
that among the root causes of decades of
social strife and conflict are the rapidly
eroding environmental services in several
key parts of the country.
Investment in environmental management,
financed by the international community
and from the country's emerging boom in
oil and gas exports, will be a vital part
of the peace building effort, says the report.
The most serious concerns are land degradation,
desertification and the spread of deserts
southwards by an average of 100km over the
past four decades.
These are linked with factors including
overgrazing of fragile soils by a livestock
population that has exploded from close
to 27 million animals to around 135 million
now.
Many sensitive areas are also experiencing
a "deforestation crisis" which
has led to a loss of almost 12 per cent
of Sudan's forest cover in just 15 years.
Indeed, some areas may undergo a total loss
of forest cover within the next decade.
Meanwhile, there is mounting evidence of
long-term regional climate change in several
parts of the country. This is witnessed
by a very irregular but marked decline in
rainfall, for which the clearest indications
are found in Kordofan and Darfur states.
In Northern Darfur for example precipitation
has fallen by a third in the past 80 years
says the report by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and its Post-Conflict and
Disaster Management Branch.
The scale of climate change as recorded
in Northern Darfur is almost unprecedented,
and its impacts are closely linked to conflict
in the region, as desertification has added
significantly to the stress on traditional
agricultural and pastoral livelihoods.
In addition, "forecast climate change
is expected to further reduce food production
due to declining rainfall and increased
variability, particularly in the Sahel belt.
A drop in crop yields of up to 70 per cent
is forecast for the most vulnerable areas,"
says the Sudan Post-Conflict Assessment.
