Ecology: Environmental transition
Mohamed Ahmed Al-Filabi
The entire world is awaiting what the transitional period in Sudan may result at the economic and political levels, while some are preoccupied with completing the circle by introducing the environmental dimension of this transition, which may be greatly affected by several events and phenomena, on top of which is the Corona pandemic and its great effects on the work wheel, and weakening the movement of activists and stakeholders. environmental matter. The huge wave of refugees comes after the outbreak of war in neighboring Ethiopia, increasing the fragility of the environmental situation in eastern Sudan. And because the environment knows no borders, the impact will extend to the far reaches of the country. It is a thick circle that holds these affairs together, and makes their overlap a matter that requires an integrated view, objective analysis, and proper planning.
“(We will not give up an inch of our land)”, a cliche politicians tend repeat whenever they grab an opportunity, without telling us what” negligence” means in their political dictionary!
The negligence we know speaks for itself in every matter, as here wastelands extend as far as the eye can reach as if the longest river in the world (the Nile) does not cross the country from south to north, covering 10% of the country’s area, and around 175 million acres of land.
The water basins, exceeding half a billion cubic meters, contribute to irrigation by the Nile, and other seasonal streams like Al-Gash and Baraka in the east, Qolul and Azum in the west, and Khor Abu Habel in Kordofan, which until recently was within the Nile system. in addition to permanent and seasonal lakes here and there, bringing the surface water volume in its entirety to one million hectares. On top of that, an aquifer passes underground, with an estimated reserve of 900 billion cubic meters, with an annual recharge of about 1.5 billion cubic meters, thanks to heavy annual precipitation.
However, food gaps occur, and thirst is a major permanent problem for some rural residents, and even urban residents suffer from issues of water supplies and quality. Despite the existing reservoirs, water supply falls short of the citizen’s need for energy, and agricultural and industrial activities are disrupted.
These days, the shortage in the electrical supply reaches 56%, according to a senior official in the Ministry of Energy, which causes great paralysis in all vital processes. However, you find only faint voices about the necessity of making maximum use of the high rates of solar radiation in the production of alternative energy covering country needs.
Wouldn’t the transition be a matter of paying attention to serious steps that began last July? On that day, a first joint laboratory was launched to provide services for testing and certification of solar systems, and to support the transition to renewable energy in Sudan, funded by the Global Environment Facility, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program and the Ministry of Energy and Mining.