{"id":747136,"date":"2022-07-15T19:39:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T19:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=131469"},"modified":"2022-07-15T19:39:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T19:39:50","slug":"will-egypt-drain-the-worlds-second-largest-wetlands-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/07\/15\/will-egypt-drain-the-worlds-second-largest-wetlands-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Egypt Drain the World\u2019s Second Largest Wetlands?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWith 35% loss globally since 1970, wetlands are our most threatened ecosystem, disappearing three times faster than forests. Wetlands\u2019 services for climate mitigation, adaptation biodiversity, and human health outweigh all other terrestrial ecosystems.\u201d\u00a01<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Sudd is Africa\u2019s largest freshwater wetland at roughly 3,500 square miles in an otherwise dry region of South Sudan. It\u2019s under threat by a megaproject named Jonglei Canal that has the potential to devastate this ecological gem.<\/p>\n

According to conservationists: \u201cEven a partial loss of the Sudd would be an ecological disaster, desiccating the world\u2019s second largest swamp and ending seasonal flooding of the surrounding grasslands, which comprise Africa\u2019s largest intact area of savannah.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Egypt has Sudd\u2019s water in its sights, some of it or all of it, only time will tell. Its plans involve a 40-yr disrupted work-in-progress that is now moving ahead once again, diverting water from the Sudd watershed to Egypt.<\/p>\n

Completion of a 240-mile canal will divert White Nile River flow directly to Egypt. This risks draining Sudd to levels that\u2019ll negatively impact the ecosystem forever. But, nobody on the Egyptian side will even hint of such possibilities. The White Nile is one of two main tributaries of the Nile. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows thru Uganda and South Sudan, where it feeds water to Sudd\u2019s remarkable pristine ecosystem, one of the world\u2019s finest.<\/p>\n

Wetlands are the principal feeder system for replenishment of the world\u2019s aquifers. According to NASA one-third of the world\u2019s largest aquifers are stressed in large measure because of loss of wetlands.<\/p>\n

Cementing over, draining, diverting, or plowing under the world\u2019s wetlands destroys the kidneys of the planet<\/em> and a whole lot more. The path of destructionis already at critical levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just over 100 years we have managed to destroy 50 percent of the world\u2019s wetlands\u2026 It is a startling figure.\u201d\u00a03<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\u201cWetlands are critical to human and planet life. Directly or indirectly, they provide almost the entire world\u2019s freshwater. More than one billion people depend on them for a living and they are among the most biodiverse ecosystems. Up to 40% of the world\u2019s species live and breed in wetlands, although now more than 25% of all wetlands plants and animals are at risk of extinction.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

One sentence from above says it all: Directly or indirectly, they (wetlands) provide almost the entire world\u2019s freshwater.\u00a0 <\/em>In a world riddled with unprecedented bouts of severe drought, it takes on new significance.<\/p>\n

As for completion of the work-in-progress canal, South Sudan\u2019s environmental ministry has different ideas than most others in its administration. The ministry will not support \u201ccompletion of the canal because of the ecosystem services that Sudd provides to our nation, the region and the world.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

What Will be Lost?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ecologists claim the magnificent Sudd is under threat of turning into desert. Sudd is home to thousands of crocodiles, hippos, elephants, zebras, and the great majority of the world\u2019s shoebill storks. It serves as one of the world\u2019s mightiest mammal migration pathways, including 1.3 million antelope that cross through the ecosystem\u2019s 100s of miles of rich grasslands to Gambella, Ethiopia. Ecologists fear that much of this will be lost<\/em>.\u00a06<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Furthermore, hydrologisst claim the project will reduce rainfall for farms and the rainforests across South Sudan as well as in neighboring countries.<\/p>\n

Canal Status<\/strong><\/p>\n

British colonial engineers first proposed the canal in 1904. It was 2\/3rds completed in the 1980s but abandoned because of a raging civil war. Rebels kidnapped the operators of the canal. They saw the canal as water theft by Egypt, depriving Sudd\u2019s nomadic Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk of fisheries and seasonal flooding of pastures for livestock. A 22-year civil war ensued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe abandoned site of the half-completed Jonglei Canal is one of the strangest scenes in Africa. A dry excavation 250 feet wide and up to 25 feet deep, extends across near-desert east of the Sudd for 160 miles, ending at the Bucketwheel, a 2,300-ton laser-guided digging machine as tall as a five-story building. The machine was brought there in 1978 by a French construction company, and for six years its 12 giant rotating buckets steadily excavated the canal.\u201d\u00a07<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In February 2022, South Sudan\u2019s VP for Infrastructure Taban Deng Gai became the first minister to publicly call for the canal to be completed: \u201cFor our land not to be submerged by flood, let\u2019s allow this water to flow to those who need it in Egypt.\u201d\u00a08<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Clearly, Egypt stands to gain the most, and it\u2019s likely the only true beneficiary of completion of the canal.<\/p>\n

However, an incipient coalition of environmentalists, concerned members of the Sudan National Legislature, academics, and NGO officials are pushing back with an energetic \u201cSave the Sudd\u201d campaign. Accordingly, John Aker, the vice chancellor of the University of Juba, claims: The canal \u201chas the potential of draining and destroying the Sudd\u2019s ecosystem, with dire consequences on the Sudd region\u2019s biodiversity, livelihood, culture, and hydrological cycle.\u201d8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Academic Jacob Lupai claims: \u201cSouth Sudan did not fight two costly and devastating wars\u2026 just to be at the receiving end of predatory outsiders\u2019 imposed projects and to allow its precious natural resources to be plundered,\u201d8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Supporters of the canal project claim it will not entirely dry up Sudd, merely shrink it. But, by how much is uncertain\u2026 guesstimates run as low as 7% and up to 40% with some opponents claiming total devastation. According to conservationists, \u201ceven a partial loss of the Sudd would be an ecological disaster.\u201d\u00a09<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Significant amounts of water evaporation from Sudd\u2019s skies carry south via winds that consistently maintain moisture for the ecologically crucial Green Belt that spreads across most of southern South Sudan and including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. In that regard, according to a hydrological model at Delft University of Technology and the University of Juba\u2019s John Alec: \u201cA shrinking Sudd will eliminate all-year rains across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, four billion tons of carbon would be released from peat if and when a significant Sudd dry out occurs.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s completion of the Jonglei Canal puts at risk one of the world\u2019s last remaining spectacular wetlands. The loss would be immeasurable and obviously irreplaceable, as it impacts one of the planet\u2019s last remaining wonderlands of wildlife.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s truly one of a kind.<\/p>\n

Save the Sudd!<\/p>\n

  1. “Wetlands are Being Lost at Alarming Rates”, Global Wetland Outlook, 2021.<\/li>
  2. “Will Nile Canal Project Dry Up Africa\u2019s Largest Wetland?” Grist, July 8, 2022.<\/li>
  3. Achim Steiner, executive director, UN Environment Programme, Hyderabad UN Conference.<\/li>
  4. “Wetlands Disappearing Three Times Faster Than Forests”, United Nations Climate Change, October 2018.<\/li>
  5. “Will a Nile Canal Project Dry Up Africa\u2019s Largest Wetland?” YaleEnvironment 360, June 28, 2022.<\/li>
  6. Grist, July 8th, 2022.<\/li>
  7. Grist.<\/li>
  8. Ibid.<\/li>
  9. Grist, July 8.<\/li><\/ol>The post Will Egypt Drain the World\u2019s Second Largest Wetlands?<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cWith 35% loss globally since 1970, wetlands are our most threatened ecosystem, disappearing three times faster than forests. Wetlands\u2019 services for climate mitigation, adaptation biodiversity, and human health outweigh all other terrestrial ecosystems.\u201d\u00a01 Sudd is Africa\u2019s largest freshwater wetland at roughly 3,500 square miles in an otherwise dry region of South Sudan. It\u2019s under threat [\u2026]<\/p>\n

    The post Will Egypt Drain the World\u2019s Second Largest Wetlands?<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29666,577,15840,51197],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747137,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747136\/revisions\/747137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}