SUDAN POST-CONFLICT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Conclusions on the role of key conflict-related issues are identified and environmental issues in conflicts over discussed in this chapter. Detailed discussion and rangeland and rain-fed agricultural land recommendations on the various environmental issues of concern (e.g. deforestation) are referred Pastoralist societies have been at the centre of local to the corresponding sector chapter. conflicts in Sudan throughout recorded history. The most significant problems have occurred and continue Definitions and impact listings to occur in the drier central regions, which are also the regions with the largest livestock populations, The following definitions are used for direct, and under the most severe environmental stress. indirect and secondary environmental impacts of conflict in Sudan: As there are many factors in play – most of which are not related to the environment – land degradation • Direct impacts are those arising directly and does not appear to be the dominant causative factor solely from military action; in local conflicts. It is, however, a very important element, which is growing in significance and is • Indirect and secondary impacts are all a critical issue for the long-term resolution of the impacts that can be credibly sourced in whole Darfur crisis. The key cause for concern is the or in part to the conflicts and the associated historical, ongoing and forecast shrinkage and war economy, excluding the direct impacts. degradation of remaining rangelands in the northern part of the Sahel belt. On this basis, UNEP has developed the following list of impacts for discussion: Much of the evidence for UNEP’s analysis is anecdotal and qualitative; it has been gathered Direct impacts include: through desk study work, satellite images and • landmines and explosive remnants of war interviews of rural societies across Sudan. The (ERW); consistency and convergence of reports from a • destroyed target-related impacts; range of sources lend credibility to this analysis, • defensive works; and although further research is clearly needed, with a • targeted natural resource destruction. particular emphasis on improved quantification of the highlighted issues and moving beyond analysis Indirect and secondary impacts include: to search for viable long-term solutions. • environmental impacts related to population displacement; A conference on the topic of environmental natural resource looting and war economy degradation and conflict in Darfur was held • resource extraction; in Khartoum in 2004. The proceedings [4.20] environmental governance and information illustrated the depth of local understanding of • the issue. Given the situation observed in 2007, vacuum; and however, UNEP must conclude that this high- • funding crises, arrested development and quality awareness-raising exercise was unfortunately conservation programmes. apparently not transformed into lasting action. Direct impacts 4.5 Assessment of the environ- Landmines and explosive remnants of war mental impacts of conflict Landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) are a major problem in Sudan. Thirty-two Introduction percent of the country is estimated to be affected This section approaches the linkages between [4.4], with the greatest concentration in Southern conflict and environment from the reverse Sudan (see Case Study 4.2). As many as twenty-one angle to the above analysis, by examining if and of the country’s twenty-five states may be impacted, how armed conflict has resulted in negative although the true extent of Sudan’s landmine problem or positive impacts on the environment in remains unknown, as a comprehensive survey of the Sudan. Direct impacts, indirect impacts and issue has not been undertaken to date. 88 • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • 4 CONFLICT AND THE ENVIRONMENT In 1983, southern military forces sabotaged these generators powering the Jonglei canal excavator. Plans to restart the giant water project constitute a major potential flashpoint for renewed conflict The reported and registered number of landmine Apart from human casualties, another major casualties over the past five years totals 2,200, impact of landmines is impeded access to large though again, no systematic data collection and areas for people and their livestock. In Sudan, verification mechanism exists. In addition, there is access to some areas has been reduced for decades, no data at all on animal casualties from mines in as they have remained mined or suspected as such Sudan, but these are expected to be much higher since the beginning of the conflict. than the human casualty rate. The impacts of landmines on wildlife would only be significant In all but the driest areas, the result of reduced (at the ecosystem level) if individual losses affected access has been the relatively unimpeded growth of locally threatened populations of key species. vegetation. UNEP fieldwork, in the Nuba mountains in particular, revealed extensive areas of woodland The potential impacts of landmines and ERW can regrowth in suspected minefields. Such regrowth be divided into chemical and physical categories. can have a beneficial effect on the affected areas Conventional explosives, such as TNT and RDX, and associated wildlife populations, but the flow of found in artillery shells and mines are highly toxic benefits to people is usually reduced, as they cannot and slow to degrade. While they present an acute safely extract resources (e.g. water, fuelwood, fodder) toxic hazard if ingested, the toxic risk is considered from these sites. Despite the risks, however, UNEP insignificant compared to the risk of injury from teams witnessed people walking, herding cattle and explosion. gathering fuel in clearly marked minefields. • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • 89 SUDAN POST-CONFLICT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT The dumping of waste on minefields and on top of unexploded ordnance creates a major safety problem (top); unexploded ordnance is loosely stacked and scattered across the area (bottom) CS 4.2 Unexploded ordnance, minefields and deforestation at Jebel Kujur, Juba district The Jebel Kujur massif near the city of Juba in the state of Central Equatoria (Bahr el Jabal) clearly illustrates the localized but severe impacts of conflict affecting many urban centres in Southern Sudan, as well as the environmental governance challenges facing the new government. During the 1983-2005 conflict, Juba was a garrison town for the central government military, and was continuously under siege and frequently attacked by SPLA forces. The town itself still shows extensive scarring, and overgrown entrenchments, minefields and scattered unexploded ordnance are visible on the fringes. Deforestation and soil erosion are severe, particularly at Jebel Kujur, which originally supported a dense forest cover. A quarry is also operating at one end of the range. In late 2006, clean-up was ongoing, but there were still minefields and areas of stacked ordnance in the foothills of Jebel Kujur. Despite the obvious risks, cattle grazing, scrap recovery and waste dumping were routinely taking place in these areas. Plastic waste was being dumped directly on top of unexploded artillery shells and rocket-propelled grenades, creating obvious serious hazards for site users and greatly increasing the future cost of de-mining and rehabilitation. The removal of explosive remnants of war (ERW) from Jebel Kujur is a difficult but short-term activity. The greater challenges are sustainable solutions for waste management for the growing city and reforestation of the massif. 90 • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • United Nations Environment Programme • 4 CONFLICT AND THE ENVIRONMENT Destroyed target-related impacts Neither the oilfields in the south, nor the transfer pipeline to Port Sudan were ever successfully Target-related impacts refer to the effects on attacked to the extent that significant environmental the environment of direct military action on damage ensued. targets, irrespective of the method. The physical destruction of the environment from conventional UNEP concludes that the absence of vulnerable weaponry (bombs, artillery shells and mortars) industrial targets in historical conflict zones has principally takes the form of cratering, and prevented any major environmental contamination damaged or destroyed buildings, trees, and from chemical spillage, and that other target- industrial facilities. related impacts have been insignificant in environmental terms. Though cratering has been reported by de-mining staff in Southern Sudan, there is no indication Defensive works that more than a few hectares are affected at each conflict location. Similarly, the destruction of trees Major defensive works such as trench networks and by direct military action is considered negligible bunkers were noticeably absent throughout the compared to other causes of deforestation in Sudan. country, but de-mining staff in Southern Sudan No lasting environmental damage is expected either reported that limited defence works could be found from the destruction of buildings, apart from the on the outskirts of besieged garrison towns. generation of inert solid waste as rubble. Southern communities gave consistent reports of The single most significant industrial target in government forces clearing trees from the periphery conflicts to date