environmental degradation as a cause of conflict in - Steiner Graphics

zone southward — and to use these all for detailed and through studies toshow how these factors had been working separately or together, to producethe ongoing situation in Umm Kaddada area at the time of study (mid-eighties).The second step was to find out whether the ongoing situation was reversible orirreversible by forecasting the prospect of these indicators. The ultimate aim of allthese stages of enquiry was to save and preserve the rest of the region’s potentialbefore it was too late.This goal could only be achieved through intensive research in the region whichshould identify and analyze the most effective factors responsible for the degradationor upgrading of the region’s socio-economic structure. The available dataabout this neglected part of the country could hardly permit any sort of monitoringprogramme, let alone planning for future development. The need for gatheringcurrent information about this region was becoming increasingly, vital, especiallyin regard to the recent regionalization policy and the proposed development strategiesfor the whole country in general and Southern Darfur in particular.We believed that the increased degradation processes of this region would affectadversely the development programmes in the whole Darfur province if it was onlyseen in the increased out migration and concentration of people in a few areaswhich still had rewarding potentials. In the longer prospect this concentration, ifnot duly avoided, or modified, would produce the same features prevailing in UmmKaddada area at that time.The ultimate aim of the proposed study in that area was not only to reversethe process of degradation in Umm Kaddada area, but to protect adjacent regionsagainst that degradation.Findings of the Field Investigations:• The spread of desert-like conditions in the area of study had created a seriousecological imbalance, mainly caused by the recent environmental deterioration,in terms of decreasing amount of rainfall, as well as the rapidincrease of human and animal population, particularly in the sixties andseventies of the last century.• It was clearly shown by our investigations that aridity was an influentialfactor for enhancing degradation of soil, which in turn led to decreased landproductivity, culminating in food shortage.• The quick regeneration of the natural ecosystem under the persistence ofman’s impact was found to be difficult.50