Sudan and its Environment
1/ Background:
Sudan is the largest political unit in Africa and the Middle East. Its limits extend from latitudes 3½ ºN to 23º N and longitudes 21¾ºE to 38 ½º E, thus extending 1600 km. from east to west and 1920 km. from north to south. Total gross area is 2.5 million km² (1 million squ. miles) including desert and water bodies. This area is approximately equal to 8.3% of the area of Africa and 1.7% of the land of the world. Most of the country is flat. Altitudes range between 900-3000 m. Few rock outcrops occur in the east (Red sea Hills), in the west (Jabel Mara), in the centre (Nuba Mountains) and the Southeast (Imatong Mountains).
A tropical continental climate prevails over most of the country where it merges into equatorial rainy in the south and into desert (Sahara) in the north. Rainfall, which is the most crucial climatic element, is controlled by the behavior and nature of the inter-tropical convergence zone (I.T.C.Z.), which itself is controlled by the atmospheric pressure conditions over and in the vicinity of the African continent. A large part of the country is desert, semi-desert or rainfall savanna woodland.
Rainfall availability, despite its seasonality and variability, accounts for the present human occupation and the present patterns of land use.
I n the desert zone, (0-100mm rainfall), which constitutes 29% of the Sudan total area, population is generally sporadic and composed mainly of nomads who graze their camels around oases and wadis. Along the Nile, cultivation of horticultural crops is common.
The semi desert zone (100-300mm) constitutes 20% of the total area. Shrubs and grasses support the nomadic life of livestock herders. Extensive grazing and shifting cultivation are practiced on Qoz areas and constitute the major cause of environmental degradation in this zone.
The woodland savanna occupies 27% of Sudan area and could be subdivided into two main types: (i) low rainfall savanna on sand which constitutes 13% of the total area and confined to the western part of the country. The rainfall which amounts to 300 to 400 mm allows for grasses and Acacia trees to dominate. Traditional farming of crops like ground nuts, sesame and millet which is the main diet is grown. Gun Arabic tapping is a general feature of land use. (ii) low rainfall savanna on clay and comprises 14% of the total area. Rainfall ranges between 400 to 600 mm.. Irrigated agriculture is the most common feature of this sub zone. It is concentrated on the clay plains bordering the Nile from east and west, the total irrigated area is estimated to be 4 million feddans. The expansion of irrigated agriculture coupled with mechanized farming within this zone has led to serious degradation and destruction of habitat.
The high rainfall savanna constitutes an area of 14% of the total area of Sudan and covers almost the Southern States. Rainfall ranges between 600 mm to more than 1500 mm. Soils are lateritic and formation of hard pans is common.
This high amount of rainfall has created dense stands of forest which constitute 68% to 70% of the total forest area of the Sudan. This zone also is the richest part of the country in wildlife.
Water Resources
Nile and underground water are the main sources of consumable water in Sudan. Nile and its branches provide 84 milliard cubic meters of which Sudan share is 18.5 milliard cubic meters. Underground water is estimated as 900 milliard cubic meters. The two main aquifers are the Nubian aquifer and the Umruwaba Formation. Sudan exploits only 2 milliard cubic meters, while the recharge is4.5 mill. Cubic meters,(Min. of Culture& Information, 2000).
Population
According to 1993 population census, the total population of Sudan was 25 millions. With a growth rate of 2.63%, the current estimate is 35 millions and it will be doubled by year 2025. This population size is small in relation to the area of the country, but its distribution is uneven. More than 50% of people concentrate in areas where water is available e.g. the density of population per km2 along the Nile and its branches is 50, while it ranges between 10 to 30 in the central clay plain and less than 10 in the rest of the country. Also, out of the total population, about 68% lives in rural areas and depends on natural resources, 29% in urban areas and the remaining are nomads, (see fig. 1)
Livestock
Sudan has one of the largest livestock population in Africa which is estimated in 1997 as 112 millions of goats, camels, cattle and sheep. The average growth rate is estimated as 4%. Livestock husbandry in Sudan provides 70% of its population with their meat and milk needs. It also contributes to Sudan commodity exports.
2/ Environmental Degradation and its impact
Rainfall in Sudan is the most important climatic element. Its variability despite its meagerness accounts for present human occupation and the present pattern of land use. It is characterized by four main features:
- It is deficient in most of, if not throughout, the year. Deficiency in rainfall will favor the accumulation of residual compounds having cementing qualities, like CaCo3 and CaCo4, leading to the formation of soil nodules and crusts.
- It is seasonal and plants respond to this seasonality. Seasonality of rainfall affects the microbiological activity, nature and distribution of organic matter.
- It is variable from month to month and year to year. Variability of rainfall may reach 70-90% leading to collapse of the ecological system, decimation of stock and spread of famines.
Figure 1 Sudan Rainfall and Population Distribution (Adapted from Sudan 2000)
- It falls in cloud-bursts of short duration and limited areal extent. Torrential rainfall favors soil erosion and sedimentation of pools. These four characteristics have created a fragile ecosystem. The major consequences of the above-mentioned characteristics are droughts and floods.
Drought:
The country witnessed several drought periods of which the most recent are of 1967 – 73, 1980-84 and 1990. They resulted in low productivity of natural vegetations and cultivated crops and created more pressure on environmental resources. The major socioeconomic impacts of drought are:
- Immigration in search of employment opportunity,
- Social disruption as a result of displacement,
- Increasing violent-conflicts over the resource base,
- Malnutrition and epidemics like measles, malaria, and cholera
Floods:
Floods are becoming more frequent in Sudan, (Wagia Alla, 2004). They cause damage to natural resources, especially to soils and vegetation along the Nile bank and its tributaries. as mentioned above, are becoming more frequent, and more destructive, According to Wagia Alla (2004), during the period 98-2003, floods have resulted in 652 deaths and injuries among people, killed 3685animals livestock and 11.5 million chickens. They also destroy about 235939 houses and 3957 service units like schools. Total losses were estimated as 14 billion dinars.
Man and his animals also contributed to environmental degradation. This degradation varies from a region to another depending on the density of population (land use practices) and vulnerability of the region to degradation.
Some of the impacts of environmental degradation and resource depletion that threaten the country include:
Soil degradation: The combined effect of climate change and resource mismanagement has subjected soils to hazards of degradation. This hazard takes the forms of soil loss, deterioration of soil structure and decline of soil fertility.
Desertification: this process has resulted in changing productive land into desert production conditions or marginality of production conditions whose recovery is either very expensive or impossible to attain. The major impacts of desertification in Sudan include, declining food and meat production, declining wood and gum production, Desiccation of biomass and reduction in area, quality and regeneration process.
Loss of biodiversity: There is a widespread concern over the alarming rate of biodiversity erosion in the Sudan. Some of the major causes for this loss include: habitat destruction, inadequate institutional structure and arrangement for biodiversity conservation. The potentially valuable genetic resources that are endangered include; indigenous trees, medicinal plants, fruits, drugs. Also they include wildlife species aquatic plants and animals.
Poverty: Poverty is a complex and a multifold phenomenon resulting from structural imbalance on many interconnected levels-the state, economy, society, culture and environment. As more than 60% of active population in Sudan is engaged in agriculture, (including livestock), it is possible to say that the major cause of poverty is lack of sustainable development that meets human needs and conserve nature.
Dependence of poor people on living resources is direct and immediate and the poor can not be expected to respond to calls to subordinate their actual and short term needs. And so, they are compelled by their poverty to destroy resources available which in turn leads to more poverty, (it is a vicious Circle).
3/ Status of Information in general:
Sustainable environment in Sudan can be achieved only through a proper land use planning and management. What is needed is a better understanding of our land resources, and appreciation of their limitations to use and the development of the proper land strategies.
Literature review revealed that neither data nor policies on Sudan natural resources and environment are sufficient for proper land strategy. Available data is old, moreover, existing data is monopolized, not regularly published or exchanged. There are also many gaps in Sudan scientific knowledge on its natural environment, The review of literature also showed that most of the previous studies in Sudan dealt with (site specific issues) examining only relatively small areas. Many areas are poorly surveyed e.g. the previous war torn parts of the South made it impossible to know with any exact accuracy what was happening in that part of the country. Even overall population estimates must be treated with extreme caution, (Pearce et al, 1995).
3-a- The Status of Environmental Information
1. Database of environmental information (Existence, Availability and Accessibility)
Sudan is similar to other developing countries has not been systematically mapped. Various development projects have collected data for their implementation. However this data often only satisfies the minimum requirement of the particular project and the data collection is done on sporadic and uncoordinated manner with no intention of maintaining such data. As a result data becomes obsolete and often not accessible for purposes other than for that project. This situation is negatively impacting upon the effective decision making and development planning.
Recently there was a great concern about Sustainable development as an integrated approach, therefore; information from different sources is required.
* The Remote Sensing Authority (RSA) records show that large amount of datasets and imageries do exist.
Data sets/images available from Remote Sensing Authority and the Forest National Corporation (MOA) include:
· Landsat data from 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000.
· Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 90 meter
· Sudan Land cover database at 1:200000 (based on Landsat 1997 adopting the land cover classification system (LCCS). The database (is an environmental database) it is an excellent reference base for many sustainable development project including natural resource management, rural livelihood, poverty reduction and poverty mapping, disaster management and food security.
* Sudan Meteorological Authority provides analysis on;
· Rainfall estimates derived from Meteosat and ground measurement
· Vegetation condition derived from NDVI (vegetation Index)
* Ministry of irrigation and water resources provides information on surface and groundwater resources. The available datasets include
· Drainage network mainly the Nile and its tributaries.
· Groundwater basin, water points, hafirs and hand pumps and seasonal wadis
* Sudan Survey Authority is the main provider of Topographic maps. The whole Sudan is covered with topographic maps at scale of 1:250000, partially at 1:100000 and specific areas at scale greater than 1:20000. Unfortunately most of this geo information in paper print format.
* The Central Statistic Bureau, with a mandate to develop the demographic data, as one of the core geo-information data set, introduces the GIS in 2004. Yet there is a lack of access to census information in a spatial context.
- Degree of utilization of the database (data/information policy)
Despite the early introduction of GIS in Sudan, which is backdated to 1980,s where the government of Sudan starts numbers of national programs through a foreign support, the utilization of the database is limited to the data generators and not accessible for other purposes. The first support in geo-information field was a contribution in 1987, of the United States Agency for International Development support, to National Remote Sensing Center (RSA)- the National Council for Research (NCR) and to the National Forest Corporation (NFC)- Ministry of Agriculture and forestry. Sudan Reforestation and anti-desertification (SRAAD) pilot project was the outcome of that support.
In 1989 the Commission of Refugee introduces GIS to assess the environment in the eastern region.
Through its support to Ministry of Finance, the UNDP in 1990 established an economic water planning model in the eastern region of Sudan in order to manage the scarce water resources in the region.
In 1992 through Water Resources Management (WRM) project, the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources creates database on ground water resources with support from the Netherlands Government.
In 2003 the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry through FAO support produces Sudan land cover and the multipurpose database as integration of remote sensing and GIS. This database is also under utilized due to lack of data/information policy.
Sudan government, realized the importance of geo-information and established, recently 2004, a geo information committee to pave the road for Sudan National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The Geo-information committee carried an assessment of the current status of geo-information in Sudan, the result showed large number of governmental institutions and private sector are working in geospatial field in complete isolation with low or no collaboration or coordination. Currently more than 45 institutions, are working in the field of geo information with different capacities, in complete isolation and on a sector basis.
This reflects clearly the lack of clear policy that governed or regulates the geo-information business in Sudan even within the government institutions. The outcome is a poor collaboration and coordination.