South Sudan: Why Dredging of Rivers Should Not Start Until a Feasibility Study is Done!
5 min read
Philip Ayuen Dot graduated from Kenyatta University, Kenya, with BSc of Environmental Science, founder of South Sudan Environmental Advocators (SSEA)
By Philip Ayuen Dot, Juba, South Sudan
Monday, 6 June 2022 (PW) — Plans to revive the dredging of rivers and the possible resumption of the Jonglei canal that will divert water from the vast Sudd wetlands into the Nile have been revived again as Egypt’s dredging machines arrived in the Unity States, but this time around, without any feasibility studies being done. But it’s not just the environmentalists, hydrologists, and geologists that haven’t been consulted, the public as well as not being asked to participate, and yet they are the most important stakeholders when it comes to the utilization of their God-given resources.
Should the dredging of rivers and canals be done without any feasibility or environmental and social impact assessment being done, South Sudan will be sacrificing the lives of their own people and generations to come for the sake of Egypt. This is because of the catastrophic and alarming results of undertaking such an environmentally altering water diversion with no regard for the pastoralists, fishermen, and general citizens of South Sudan who all benefit from the Sudd wetland as of now.
The Jonglei canal promises to add to Egypt’s water an additional five to seven percent of what they currently get from the Nile. On the other hand, South Sudan, on the other hand, will have 34–43% of the Sudd Wetland dry up in the first phase, and a 100% dry up after the canal starts operating at its full capacity. One does not need to be an expert to predict what will happen to the people of South Sudan once the Sudd wetland dries.
One of the most disastrous effects will be the drying up of grazing lands. South Sudan is a pastoralist country with millions of herds of cattle that depend on the availability of pasture and water to survive. Once the wetland is gone, pasture and water will be serious sources of conflict as the animals will have very limited grazing lands.
Fisheries is another department expected to suffer unmitigated blows once the dredging of rivers and the canal are completed. A substantial number of people are fishermen, and they depend on it as a source of livelihood. So not only will the Jonglei Canal put them out of business, but it will also reduce the food options available to people. And with climate change changing rainfall patterns and thus affecting rain-fed agriculture, taking fish out of the equation reduces South Sudan’s climate resilience and will make famines more frequent.
Another catastrophe in the making is the effects on wild animals. The Sudd, or marshes, are home to the largest animal migration in the world. The white-eared Kob and the Tiang antelopes and gazelle migrate north and east from the wetlands on the eastern bank of the White Nile towards Boma National Park and across the border to Ethiopia in the wetland when the season becomes drier. Needless to say, these hundreds of animals will have nowhere to migrate to when the north dries up, bringing about one of the largest environmental disasters in the world.
Reduced rainfall will be felt by both those near and far. The evaporation from the Sudd wetland is crucial to the region’s rainfall. It forms the humid winds that blow to even neighbouring countries, bearing rain. Thus, such a huge disruption means a lack of rainfall not just in South Sudan but in neighbouring countries as well.
This will then lead to reduced groundwater levels. Groundwater is usually replenished by both rainfall and wetlands like Sudd, which holds the water during the rainy season and releases it slowly during the dry season. The reduction of both the rainfall and the drying up of the wetland will therefore mean that boreholes will no longer yield water easily, and the springs will dry up as well.
This then means that the number of people affected by the already planned dredging of rivers and the Jonglei Canal is not just the people who live between the Upper Nile region and the Bahr el Ghazal region, but the whole of South Sudan will feel the effects of this canal, along with its neighbouring countries, who will suffer reduced rainfall and animals migrating to their countries once South Sudan becomes more desertified.
Again, no one needs to be told that this is a recipe for conflict. Conflict over the pasture. Conflict over areas left with a little rainfall conflict as people can no longer make a living from cattle keeping or fishing.
And all this bloodshed and environmental damage in South Sudan for what? So that Egypt increases its area under cultivation by 2 million acres. The lives of the South Sudanese people are being sacrificed so that an already prospering nation can take more from them.
For those concerned about flooding that affects the Upper Nile region, among others, there are so many other environmentally friendly alternatives that can deal with the floods without reducing rainfall and drying out the largest wetland in Africa. These include erecting dams, bridges, and constructing dykes. Not only will these measures control floods, but they will benefit the people of South Sudan right now and for generations to come.
It is therefore my official take as an environmentalist that the dredging of rivers and the possible resumption of the Jonglei Canal cannot be built until a proper environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) has been done. And even then, should the ESIA find that the negative impacts of the canal surpass the alleged benefits, the project should not be allowed to continue.
The era when projects would be done without consulting the public and experts is long gone. And for the people of South Sudan, it is our duty to safeguard our livelihood, and our environment and seek to bequeath to our children a South Sudan as we either found it or better off, not worse. It is thus the duty of everyone to speak up against the recent actions that seek to put our lives in harm’s way over a canal that will benefit two countries away from us.
The author is a non-violent environmental activist and can be reached via his email: Philipdot57@gmail.com
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