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Environmental Concerns in the Nuba MountainsBy: Josiah Atkins  Desertification is a big problem in central Sudan. In the Nuba Mountains, water is disappearing from boreholes and hand dug wells; young trees have trouble growing because goats eat them and mature trees continue to be cut for fire wood and fences. FAR is working to prevent desertification through tree planting and gabion check dam projects. Tree planting is crucial in the Nuba Mountains. The trees FAR supplies provide fruit to eat for the community, shade from the blistering hot sun, and protection from desertification. I attended tree-planting demonstrations at a clinic in Kamiri and a school in Kitongo, small villages in South Kordofan. Both the school and the clinic were given orange, mango, grapefruit and shade trees. The school and the clinic each mobilized people to dig holes for the trees and FAR provided food for work, fences to protect from the goats and training on how to plant the trees correctly. The trees need proper care or they will die. The sun will kill them if they are not watered regularly and without fences, goats will destroy the trees. Each hole must be covered with ash at the bottom and sides before planting the trees. This protects the trees from being terminated by termites. Both the caretaker of the school and the caretaker at the clinic were very pleased to receive trees and the training from FAR. "I don’t have many words,” the man at the school said, "but I am very happy with the trees and we will take full responsibility for them. We are praying that the work of FAR will continue here.” Similarly, the man at the clinic said "we are very thankful for the trees! We are praying that the trees will grow big and strong and that the fruit will feed many people here in Kamiri.” FAR is also constructing gabion check dams in South Kordofan. Gabion Check Dams are built in areas where water builds up during rain storms. Without these check dams soil erosion will continue and ground water will not be contained. The check dams are built using large rocks held together by gabion wire and cemented down on both sides in a dry river bed. Recently I visited Korkondo and met Suliman, the Village Development Committee chairman. He was delighted to see FAR working in his area and invited us to join them for breakfast. An elder of the community was inquiring about what FAR and CIDA are doing in the area and we shared about recharging ground water and protecting the land from further erosion and desertification. Suliman and the community leaders are hoping to make more bore holes and terraces in the future, which will provide water to their people. They are happy that the Canadian government is supporting these projects that lead to sustainable water sources in the Nuba Mountians. |
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