0067-A2

The Role of Forests in the Development of the Rural Population In Dinder Biosphere Reserve, Sudan

Dr. Salwa Mansour Abdelhameed ¹

Abstract

Dinder National Park (1935) is included in the UNESCO list of the Biosphere Reserves(BR.) since 1979. As a BR, it should play three basic roles relating to conservation, development, and logestic support for comparative research and monitoring programmes. The links between conservation of biodiversity and the development needs of local communities as a component of BR approach, is now recognized as a key feature of the successful management of most protected areas. The welfare and security of the local people are to be considered as a focal point for conservation-development integrated approach, in managing any BR.

The local communities in and around the Park suffered from underdevelopment and the natural resources have suffered from over-exploitation.

Questionnaires, formal and informal discussion and the basic information about the resources, reflected that about twenty eight (28) trees species are of multiple-use and have great potentiality of providing wide range of economic, social and environmental benefits.

Forestry can increase the overall capacity of the park to sustain human life and the ecology. This can be achieved through various measures, which must be harmonized to avoid dangerous imbalances in the entire system.

Introduction

Dinder Biosphere Reserve(DBR) borders Ethiopia in South-eastern part of central region of Sudan at latitude 12 26 N-and 11 55 N and longitudes 35 02 E and 34 44 N, with an area of 10, 846 Km 2.

Harrison and Jackson(1958), Holsworth (1968) and Dasmann (1972)) included the Dinder region in the Acacia seyal-Balanites savanna alternating with grass area zone and Anogeissus - Combretum hartmannianum savanna woodland zone). Hakim et al (1978) and Abdel Hameed et al (1995), recognized three ecosystems; A. seyal-Balanites woodland, riverine and mayas (meadows - ox-bow lakes ) ecosystems.

The A. seyal-Balanites ecosystem occurs on deep cracking clay soils and dominated by A. seyal, Balanites aegyptiaca and Combretum hartmannianum.

The riverine ecosystem occupies the silty banks of the Dinder and Rahad rivers, composed of multilayered vegetation, dominated by Hyphaene thebaica, Ficus sycomorus, A. siberiana, Stereospermum kunthianum, Tamarindus indica, and C. hartmannianum, associated with Ziziphus spina- christi, Gardinia lutea and Pilostigma retculatum .

Mayas ecosystem provide the wild animals with forage and water specialy during the dry season (Feb.-June). Mayas pass through different successtional stages from young, wet to old, dry ones. The succulent perennials were replaced by tall unpalatable annuals( e.g. Sorghum sudanense),and A. nilotica seedlings (Abdel Hameed 1983).

The Dinder area was very sparsely populated when was established in 1935 (Holsworth, 1968). Since then, because of the protection, the vegetation have recovered and the wildlife populations have increased. However, during the last three decades, due to recurrent drought and an ongoing civil war, large numbers of displaced people from western Sudan have migrated and settled in areas surrounding the park. Nimir (1983) reported that about twenty villages exist near the park. According to Population survey of 1993, over 55,000 people live in 36 villages outside the park. The number of people inhibiting the park are about 6400 constituting about 9.4% of the total population in the area (Goor 1994). More recent estimates reported that about 100.000 living in 34 villages, 11 of which are inside the park (HCENR-WRC, 2001).

The local community in the reserve can be divided into three groups. The largest is generally poor and depends largely on seasonal farm labour, on subsistence agriculture, fishing and on domestic livestock. Some of them have small plots, known locally as gerif, along river Rahad banks, in which they grow fruits, vegetables and grains. They are also active in felling trees for charcoal production and are responsible for most of the poaching problems in the park.

The second group is an indigenous community, in a small village called Magano, existed since 1912, inside the park. These community, is a distinct social group, has unique cultural and peculiar taboos. They depend entirely upon subsistence farming, wild fruits, honey and fire wood. They use traditional methods for poaching. During the dry season they move to Dinder River for fishing (Awad, 1995).

The third group are the nomadic herdsmen. They traditionally used to move with great herds of sheep and camels to the Butana grasslands, north of the park, in the wet season. During the dry season they return to rivers' banks and to Blue Nile ( Moghraby 1982). The drought conditions had expelled other nomadic groups to the already overstocked Dinder area. This has led to increasing aggressive invasion of the park by their livestock. The nomads and the villagers are facing the law enforcement penalty by loosing 50% of their herds.

Many wild animals migrate outside the park during the wet season. The wet season habitats have been destroyed by mechanized farming. The migrant animals are subject to increasing harassment and killing. Both poachers and honey collectors greatly affect the ecology of the area by lighting fires throughout the park. Felling of trees is evident near the villages and had greatly accelerate the erosion and sedementation process (Abdelhameed et al 1999).

The issue of distribution of costs and benefits is a critical one in helping to resolve conflicts in protected areas. Winter (1998) suggested that any succeeful realistic wildlife policy in Africa should based on the philosophy; of using the welfare and security of the people as a focal point for conservation. Forest resources can contribute efficiently in answering the needs for domestic energy, creating rural jobs, regulating the use of natural resources, quickening the pace of changes in agricultural production methods, setting up stable forms of coexistence with animal production, and preserving a natural environment (Flandez and Quedraogo ,1994).

Checking the needs of the local communities to forest resources in the DBR, is the main objective of this study.

Material and method

A field survey was conducted during the dry seasons of 1998-1999, in 16 villages. Eleven (11) villages are inside the park and 5 are close to the park. Questionnaires, formal and informal discussions were carried with farmers, herders and traders. Information include village's establishment, services, demographic characteristics, economic activities, natural resource utilizations, problems and conflicts. Visits to traditional markets were important sources of information. Data was analized, compared and supplemented with studies of relevant literature.

Results and Disscussion

The total population is 23372 individuals (Appendix I), increasing by 28.6% since the last census of Goor (1994). Most (90%) of the inhabitants are emigrants from Kordofan and Darfur states. The largest tribe is the Massaleet followed by the Bargou. Bandegawe and Um Korag East are the only villages that have most of the services (i,e. clinic, mosque, khalwa, electricity and eleminatory schools to the 5th class). 94% are illiterate. Most of the inhabitants used the pools's polluted water (Jamam) for drinking and all household uses.

The majority (83.3%) of them are farmers and hired as laborers in agricultural lands , few are pastoralists (3.3 %) and about 13.4% have both and other jobs. In the rainy season, they practice traditional rainfed agriculture (sorghum, corn, maize, millet, sesame and groundnuts), vegetables cultivation ( lentils, cowpeas and , tomatoes ) and fruit plantations (guavas, citrus, mangoes, grape fruits). Dry-season activities are wood collection, charcoal making and trade. About 80% does not own land but practice cultivation by renting land. Brick-making becomes, recently (1997), a commercial activity.

The average male headed household's monthly income is L.S. 120, 000 (<50 U.S.D.). About 50% of this income comes from labour at households level or hired by others. Field croups contribute 30%% of the income. About 20% comes from sale of forest products (timber, honey, fruits, charcoal), dried fish, and livestock. Always there is a gap between income and expenditure which is carried over as debt for next years.

Productivity per feddan for all crops is very low, indicating exhausion of cropped areas. About 60 % found that prices are below those obtained in other markets. Most became aware that they are living in fragile environment with variable rainfall and frequent crop failure. To respond to such uncertainties some shift, sale of assets or either borrowing, charcoal production , selling wood, hunting of wild animals, using of wild food, and migrating to town or to another villages with better potentials. The number of the villages, surrounding the park, are now 36 villages instead of 26 that are reported by Awad (1995).There are regular, uncontrollable, continous migrations, that becomes choronic in years of drought

Many trees and shrubs (28) are considered to be of multiple- uses in the Park (Table 1). All inhabitants depend continuously on 27 tree spp. for timber and for traditional medicine, on 20 spp. for fire wood and charcoal, 23 spp. for forage, 17spp. for food, 18 spp. for raw material, 12 spp. for protection and shelter belt and on 9spp. for handcraft. About 95% of the people prefare A. seyal as fire-wood and for making charcoal. A. nilolica, B. aegyptiaca and Tamarindis indica for protection, shade and for food (furits). A. seyal, Balanities aegypliaca, Borassus aethiopum, Hyphene thebaica and Adansonia digitata are highly demanded. Timber wood from A. seyal , Hyphene thebaica, B, aegyptiaca, combined with tall annual grasses such as Sorghum sudaneses, Panicum targidum, Cympopogon nervatus, Aristida plumora, and Setaria incrassata, was used for building their houses. Gum is collected from A.seyal, A. senegal, and A polycantha and resin oil from B. aegyptiaca fruits.

The appearance of the clearing fronts and the rapid shrinking of forest formation had marked the landscape in most of the Dinder area. A nilotica subsp. tomentosa, Adansonia digitata, Albizia aylmeri, Dalbergia melanoxylon, Pseudocedrela kotschyi, Pterocarpus lucens and Oxytenanthera abyssinica are considered endangered in the area (HCENR- WRC, 2002).

In Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, conservation projects in protected areas, have succeed with the involvement and participation of local communities, in actual management operations ( Flandez and Quedraogo,1994). In Arganeraie BR (Algeria), Wadi Allagi BR (Egypt), and Dana BR (Jordon), the development of income-generating schemes, production and commercialization of net products from the trees, medicinal and fooder plants, is the principal vehicle for encouraging alternative and sustainable land uses. Cruciol to the success of that programme has been recognition of the environmential conditions that limit natural productivity and that underpin ecosystem structure, functioning and diversity (Springuel, 1998).

A project supported by the GEF and UNDP was under implemintation now (2000-2003) by the HCENR. The project will rehabilitate the DBR' ecosystems, to enhance biodiversity and preserve the wildlife of the area. It will attempt to encourage the local communities , living in and near DBR, to participate in community oriented conservation projects, provide them with a source of income, to improve their standard of living. through the sale of park's resources products and envisage sustainable multiple use of natural resources. The activities would be implemented under the component of integration and education of local communities, aiming for protection against deterioration that had result from deforestation, grazing and burning.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The importance of DBR for conservation can be viewed through many aspects. The reserve is an important buffer zone for the vegetation cover of Central Africa and an important watershed area protecting the most influential feeders of the Blue Nile. The reserve, together with the Ethiopian Plateau, makes, a complete ecosystem for wildlife in which the Dinder reserve is the dry season habitat for migratory species. It supports a high diversity of fauna and flora. Thus the conservation of its unique flora and fauna communities will serve in preserving the bio-diversity of the region.

The survey showed that because of lack of education or income facilities, the inhabitant of Rahad villages are engaged in many illegal activities, inside the reserve. The serious threats are the illegal mechanized farming, deforestation, burning and poaching by nomadic herders and villagers.

Demand for forests' products is highly subjective and closely related to basic needs, but the pressure on forest formations is so excessive that it can be considered much higher than their natural regeneration capacity.

The traditional uses of the forest resources as a source of food, medicine, and forage are becoming difficult, with the continous disappearance of forest formations and the enforcement regulations in the DBR with no management plan. Thus, the BR concept should be address properly for the benefit of both the biodiversity and the rural population. The Dinder Project authority had recognized the potential of non-wood forest products. They are now trying to evaluate the forest potential, include establishing the dendrametric and ecological parameters that should determine the final form of the management plan. The management practices should include; effective voluntary participation of the rural population, organized in village forest management groups and encouragement of agroforestry activities in villages.

There is a need for a shift to more flexible situations, where conservation and use are seen in context and the full range of measures is applied in a continuum from strictly protected to human-made ecosystem. Therefore existing laws and regulations (since 1935) should carefuly be re-examined in view of current national biodiversity status and the new objectives. The articulation of zonation pattern is essential for applying the BR and the ecosystem opproach, seeking the appropriate balance between an integration of conservation and use of biological diversity for the benefits of the local communities.

Literature cited

*Abdel Hameed, S. M., 1983.Vegetation of Mayas in Dinder National Park, Sudan. M. Sc. Thesis, Colorado State Univ. USA , 93p.

*Abdel Hameed. S. M, A. A. Hamid, N. M. Awad, O. A. Osman, A. I. Maghraby,

S. H. Hamid, 1995. Wildlife Habitat Assessment of DNP by Remote Sensing Techniques. 2th Scientific Research Conf., El Behous J.Vol( 2): 13-19

* Abdel Hameed, S. M., A. A. Hamid, N. M. Awad, A. El Mograby and O. A.

Osman, 1999. Assessment of Watershed Problem in Dinder N. Park. WRC. / UNESCO. 17p.

*Awad, N. M., 1995. Impact of human settlement in Dinder N. Park. Seminar of Biosphere Reserves UNESCO. 15-17 May. Khartoum, Sudan. 11p.

*Dasmann. W., 1972. Development and management of Dinder National Park and its wildlife ; F.A.O. No. TA 3113. F.A.O. Rome, 61p.

*Flandez M. Soto and K. Ouedraogo, 1994. Management of Wooddlands Savannah in the Sudano-Sahelian Zone. Wood Production and Wood for Energy: Systems for the implementation of sustainable forest management. FAO, 33 - 43p.

* Goor, W. G., 1994. The Dinder N. Park. Can it be Saved. SECS Seminar 8, Aug., 1994, 7p.

* Hakim, S., B. Fadlalla, N. M. Awad, and S. Abdel Wahab, 1978. Ecosystems of the Vegetation of Dinder National Park. Unpubl Rept WRC Khart., Sudan ,9 p.

*Harrison, M.N. and J.K Jackson ,1953. Ecological Classification of the Vegetation of the Sudan. Forest Bull.No.2, Agr. Pub.,Khart. Uni., Sudan,27p.

*HCENR- WRC., 2001. Ecological Base line Survey in Dinder National Park. Rept. Part I, 2001 / Dinder Project.

*HCENR- WRC. ,2002 . Ecological Base line Survey in Dinder National Park. Rept., Part II, 2002 / Dinder Project.

*Holsworth, N. W., 1968. Dinder N. Park. Report to the Government of the Sudan. FAO. No TA 2457. F.A.O. Rome, 26p.

*Moghraby, I. E., 1982. The Dinder National Park, Environmental monitoring baseline and trend, analysis report. ETMA / IES No. 6.Khartoum, Sudan. 25p.

*Nimir, M. B. 1983. Wildlife values and management practices in northern Sudan. Ph.D. Thesis .CSU. USA, 201p.

*Springuel, I., 1998. Experience in Incorporating Local Populations in Management and Income Generating Activities of Biosphere Reserves. Regional Workshop for Site Selection and Management of Biosphere Reserves. UNESCO, April , 27 - 30, 1998. Dana / Jordon, 9p.

*Winter, M., 1998. Decentralized natural resource management in the Sahal : Overview and analysis. iied issue paper No. 81.

Appendix (I) : Villages in and near Dinder Biosphere Reserve, Sudan.

¹ Salwa M. Abdelhameed, Director of Wildlife Research Center
P.O.Box 16, code 14412, Elmourada, Omdurman, Sudan.