Background

Sudan’s biodiversity is under severe pressure. Decades of armed conflict, unchecked agricultural expansion, overgrazing, poaching and unsustainable resource use have eroded ecosystems across the country – from the low-rainfall savannahs of the interior to the coral reefs and seagrass beds of the Red Sea coast. Global species extinction rates are already tens to hundreds of times the historical average, and Sudan’s landscapes reflect that crisis in miniature.

When South Sudan gained independence in 2012, Sudan lost 86 per cent of its protected area estate overnight. The country was left with just four national parks, two game reserves and three game sanctuaries, covering less than six per cent of its total land area – below the internationally agreed target. Many of these areas lack functioning management plans, adequate staffing or financial resources.

In addition, none of Sudan’s nationally designated protected areas have been classified and entered into the IUCN List of Protected Areas, although this would provide added impetus to strengthen biodiversity conservation and align protected area management with internationally recognized standards and protocols

Wildlife habitats and populations are in decline, land degradation is advancing at roughly 2.4 per cent of forest cover per year and communities living in and around the parks – among the poorest in the country – are caught in a cycle of dependence, using up the natural resources that the parks exist to protect.

Sustainable livelihoods and effective conservation cannot be addressed in isolation from each other. Competing land uses pit mechanised farming operations, small-scale farmers and nomadic pastoralists against each other, driving encroachment into protected areas and accelerating land degradation. Only a comprehensive landscape approach that works simultaneously on park management, policy reform and community-level natural resource management can produce lasting change.

This project takes that approach, focusing on three priority landscapes: Dinder National Park in the low-rainfall savannah, Jebel El Dair National Park in the arid mountains of North Kordofan, and Dungonab Bay and Mukkawar Island National Park on the Red Sea coast.

Project Details

Funded by: Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNDP

Implemented by: Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources (HCENR)

Project period: 2020–2027

Budget: US$23,608,913 (GEF: US$4,100,913; UNDP TRAC: US$500,000; co-financing: US$19,008,000)

Coverage: Three protected area landscapes – Dinder National Park, Jebel El Dair National Park, and Dungonab Bay and Mukkawar Island National Park – plus national-level policy support across Sudan’s entire protected area system

What We Do

The project strengthens Sudan’s national protected area system and addresses land degradation and livelihood pressures that threaten it from outside.

Enabling environment for protected area management. At the national level, the project is supporting the development of a National Protected Area System Strategy and Expansion Plan and working to align Sudan’s PA classification system with international IUCN and UNESCO standards. It is also investing in the institutional capacity of the Wildlife Conservation General Administration through specialised training, mentoring and management systems reform. Two new protected area clusters – in Red Sea State and West Kordofan – are being added to the national PA estate to improve ecological representativeness.

Improved management at targeted protected areas. Direct investment in Dinder, Jebel El Dair and Dungonab Bay is improving ecological monitoring and species management; operational systems, including park infrastructure, equipment and law enforcement; and economic sustainability through tourism planning and business development.

Sustainable land management in surrounding landscapes. Outside park boundaries, the project is working with communities in buffer and transitional zones to rehabilitate degraded rangeland and woodlands, establish community forests, introduce conservation agriculture and improve water harvesting. Land use planning dialogues are supporting recognition of customary tenure rights for marginalised pastoralist and small-scale farming communities, reducing the resource competition that drives encroachment. Livelihood diversification – including a small grants mechanism for community businesses and support for sustainable deep-sea fishing near Dungonab – is reducing dependence on park resources.

Knowledge management, gender mainstreaming and monitoring and evaluation. A dedicated component ensures that lessons learned are captured and fed back into

adaptive management, that women are meaningfully included in all decision-making processes and that results are tracked rigorously throughout the project.

Expected Results

By 2025, the project aims to have measurably improved biodiversity conservation and reduced land degradation across approximately seven per cent of Sudan’s total area. Key expected results include:

• A National Protected Area System Strategy and PA Expansion Plan formally adopted, with Sudan’s PA classification system aligned with IUCN categories and UNESCO biosphere reserve standards
• Two new protected area clusters gazetted, expanding the national PA estate and improving ecological representativeness
• Significant improvements in management effectiveness scores at Dinder, Jebel El Dair and Dungonab Bay national parks
• Rangeland, woodland and community forest areas rehabilitated in buffer and transitional zones around the three target parks, contributing to national Land Degradation Neutrality targets
• Sustainable livelihood options established for communities in and around the three target landscapes, reducing pressure on park resources
• Improved financial sustainability frameworks in place for the national PA system, including tourism development plans