Environmental Complications – Birds migration’s environmental changes! With In-depth reaction from Dr. Nasreldin Shulgami

By: Alaa Babiker

Few days ago a video for a Canadian video creator has gone viral in Sudan. As Doug Sharp spoke at one of his videos – fun fact as he calls it – about what happened in 2018, where an environmental Polish Charity lost couples of thousands of dollars when they made an interesting experiment of birds migration tracking, but it all went the opposite of their expectations!

Sharpe stated at his video on Instagram “in 2018, polish charity Ecologic Group placed a tracer on the back of a white stork to track the birds migratory habits, they later received a phone bill for $2,700”, and he spoke briefly about the fact, stating that the charity has lost contact with the tracker at the Blue Nile in Sudan, and then after one month they received a bill for $2,700 for using the tracker’s SIM card  for long distance calls.

On one hand, we communicated with Sharpe through his Instagram account, hoping to have a reply from him, and we are trying to communicate with him by different means as well, as we wonder about the sources he collected his information’s from. On the other hand some environmental activists say that the SIM card placed in the tracker cannot possibly work at cell phones and make international and long distance calls, but we are still exploring to collect more data about this. Indeed it is a sad fact because in Sudan we have many organizations that work at all aspects of environment, and when an incident like this one happens, generation of more knowledge building and awareness should be organized.

The photo is for a white stork with a GPS shot in Turkey.

The aim of speaking about this “fun fact” is to reveal the real story behind what happened in 2018, to listen to the man who took the tracker and used the SIM card and know more from him, and to communicate with the charity Ecologic Group for many reasons; first: to explain to them what really went on, it might not get the lost money back, but it will definitely help the charity know about inhabitants behaviors that they can take advantage of when making similar researches in the future. Second: to discover the other aspects of birds migrations and link it to the environmental changes worldwide, and Sudan is considered one of the largest countries in Africa which is going through noticeable environmental changes as well that affecting not only birds migration, but also affecting some local groups migration.

To gather more information’s about the complications and risk factors of working at environment field in Sudan, we have made an interview with one of Sudan’s pioneer environmental activists Dr. Nasreldin Shulgami, and we asked him the following questions:-

1. In your opinion, to what extent do you think Sudan is interested in the environment?
2. To what extent do the Sudanese people think they understand the dimensions of taking monitoring and tracking devices belonging to organizations working in the field of the environment as the right thing?
3. Given Sudan’s natural resources and livestock wealth, could Sudan be actively involved in tracking bird migration and cooperating with international organizations?
4. Do you think that the Sudanese government has given enough to the field of environment in Sudan?
5. What are the risks and obstacles facing environmental activists and experts?
6. How can interest in the field of environment contribute to raising the economic level of the country?

Dr. Shulgami welcomed us reaching for him and gave us the following statements:-

• If we take Sudan in general in all its regions and we are talking about the Sudanese citizen, we find that their awareness of the environmental risks around them is very low, which makes them vulnerable to many health problems.
• Sudan, with its unique biodiversity, can have gathering centers for the migration of birds and wild animals as well.
• Despite the citizen’s ignorance of the scientific techniques used by research centers to track migratory birds, we see a great effort by researchers and academics in Sudan to monitor and follow up on this migration, and rarely broadcast awareness messages through the media on the subject.
• The Sudanese government throughout the ages has not given the environment enough attention or support
• Even when the Ministry of Environment was established, it did not receive attention or the help of experts in its administration, and even its powers were limited and simplified.
• Sudan has a great legacy in popular voluntary work in the field of the environment through the Sudanese society for the protection of the environment, which was able to qualify capable cadres in the field of environment on a global level that enabled them to assume high places, and positions in regional and international institutions. A good example of this is the participation of a Sudanese group of environmental experts in Sudan in winning the Nobel Peace Prize dedicated to the environment with the vice president of the United States several years ago.
• He also added: There is no doubt that environmental sanitation plays a major role in reducing health and environmental risks that are reflected on society and the state’s economy, spreading greenery and forest areas that give a direct economic return to the state.

To have more discussions about this area, three questions are to be raised to the Sudanese environmental activists and professionals to think about and answer, and their interactions are to be reviewed and shared at our monthly Citizens Forum. Do not hesitate to answer the following questions and share you ideas with us at our social media platforms:-

1. What are the other risk factors of working at environmental field in the world as general? And particularly in Sudan?
2. What are the solutions for these risks?
3. To what extent do you think that climate changes affected animals migrations, and inhabitants living conditions and migrations?
4. What do you think we as Sudanese populations should do to protect and assist the international environmental work?

We are glad to receive your answers, thoughts, and ideas for the above questions at our platforms on social media; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, and at our email: info@citizen-sd.com. And we will be having more discussions and interviews with professionals regarding environment work including risk factors. Stay Tuned.