Wetlands, the Ramsar Treaty and Jonglei Canal by درة التاج عثمان

09:42 PM April, 25 2018

Sudanese Online
درة التاج عثمان-الخرطوم-السودان
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"You can say that wetlands are the only place on the planet where the world's oldest wild mammals coexist, like elephants with the world's oldest fish, such as Silcant and the world's largest marine mammals," said President Nelson Mandela.
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Wetlands are partially or completely submerged areas with shallow water such as water pockets and river and lake margins. They are saline or freshwater, representing transient ecosystems between drylands and those completely submerged in water. They occupy only 6% of the world's total land. Freshwater wetlands account for 40% of all world species of animals, plants, birds and aquatic life.
There are many types of wetlands, but biologically there must be three conditions for determining wetlands:
First: the presence of water (hydrology)
Second: the presence of special soil saturated with water
Third: The presence of plant and life-bearing organisms in this particular environment

The number of wetlands in the world 80 is natural, such as fish, sand, marshes or man-made water such as dams and aquifers, the largest of which is Pantal, which is the largest of the world's vast estuaries. It is composed of shallow ponds stretching from Brazil to Bolivia and Paraguay. Sundarbans stretching from Bangladesh to India is one of the largest mangroves .It is inhabited by gazelles, crocodiles and reptiles, and Everglades, Florida, is one of the world's largest wetlands


Southern Sudan Wetlands
Named the countries that originate from which the river passes through the Nile Basin countries: Egypt. Sudan. Southern Sudan. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Eritrea as observers because it is neither a source country nor an outlet for any branch or tributary associated with the Nile.
The Nile States have a convention called the Nile Basin Initiative, which aims at achieving sustainable development in the political and social spheres through the equal exploitation of the Nile's potential.
The wetlands of Sudoud of Southern Sudan are the largest wetlands in the world and cover an area of 30,000 km in the dry season and reach 130 square kilometers during the rainy season. This area is about the size of England, the largest of the United Kingdom

The region is inhabited by ethnic groups of the Dinka, Shilk and Nuer tribes. They depend on the river, swamps and the surrounding areas for their livelihoods and such as grazing, farming and hunting.. The area provides food for migratory species of up to 400 species such as white swans and many migratory animals such as ducks, crocodiles and sea mules.

Jonglei Canal Project:.
Is a plan of action to benefit from the lost water in the dams and the Sea of Jebel. It aims to dig a canal between Jonglei and the mouth of the Subat at Malakal city, which absorbs excess water from marshes and water lost by evaporation, which may total up to 50 billion cubic meters. Which is expected to provide Egypt and Sudan with between 5 and 7 billion cubic meters of additional water to their original shares of Nile water guaranteed by the historic Nile Water Agreement 1959. The two countries agreed that the permanent technical committee should supervise and follow up the project which was given the privilege of implementing any French company.


The drilling and implementation began in 1978 and two-thirds of the channel was completed irregularly or committed to the schedule because of the civil war and repeated attacks and kidnappings of the project's implementers by rebel soldiers and the people of the region opposed to completing the channel, which will destroy their traditional ways and damage their pastures and dry their fisheries and displacement of animals
The project's perpetrators also faced several problems related to the nature of the area of the area and fuel, the provision of drilling and the difficulty of the weather. It was finally stopped in 1984 at the village of Kunqar, where the huge excavator is still in decline. Many years after the project was suspended in June 2006, the wetlands of Southern Sudan were placed under the protection of the Ramsar Act as wetlands of international importance under the International Convention on Wetlands. Which will strengthen the position of civil society organizations and environmental protection in the event of a return to talk about the completion of the Jonglei Canal project and weaken this possibility

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.Ramsar Treaty:
Is an international treaty aimed at conserving wetlands and rational use of its resources. It was signed in 1971 in Ramsar, It has been signed by several countries that include wetlands, including the fledgling State of Southern Sudan, which has already received Ramsar certification to protect its wetlands . The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has recognized that the wetlands of southern Sudan represent the best wetlands in Africa and include, except for animals, fish, birds and plants, the largest reserves of timber in East Africa.