Tons of rubbish and other waste have been accumulating in the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum as a result of the breakdown of public services owing to the civil war in Sudan in a crisis that is threatening to turn into an environmental catastrophe, especially as summer temperatures intensify.
The civil war in Sudan, which broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April last year, has been causing severe environmental impacts, harming biodiversity and increasing pollution rates and contributing significantly to the accumulation of waste in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri and risking making these cities the centres of deadly diseases.
A year of war in Sudan has sparked one of the largest displacement crises in the world and has pushed millions of people to the brink of famine. An estimated 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from acute malnutrition, depriving them and their newborns of health and sometimes life itself.
Morgues in Khartoum are being pushed to the limit after thousands of bodies have remained piled up in them for more than three years. Some of them have rotted and decomposed, causing fears of disease. Epidemic diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are also emerging as major threats to public health.
The interruption of primary healthcare services as a result of the war, especially the immunisation of children who may not have received the vaccinations necessary for future health, in addition to maternal healthcare services, antenatal care, and safe childbirths, are all contributing to a healthcare crisis.
Water supplies have been interrupted in most residential neighbourhoods, and there have been reports of the proliferation of dogs in the streets of Khartoum as well as vultures — one indication of the magnitude of a disaster in which the bodies of the dead are not being buried in an appropriate manner.
Hanan Al-Amin Mudathir, an environmental and climate-change consultant working on Sudan, said that there are serious environmental and health repercussions of the waste and the remains of bodies now filling the streets of Khartoum and other cities in Sudan. The crisis is affecting the provision of drinking water and sewage networks, she said, contributing to the threatened spread of diseases such as cholera and schistosomiasis.
In parallel, tons of waste are accumulating in the streets Khartoum, and many fear that the problem will continue throughout the next rainy season in the light of the inability of sanitation workers to work owing to the war and curfews. The city’s poor drainage network may exacerbate the situation further.
The Central Committee of Health Officers in Sudan has warned of the environmental risks resulting from the decomposition of corpses in the streets as a result of the war and its impact on health and the environment.
Head of the committee Heba Al-Makki confirmed that decomposing corpses in the streets are not being dealt with according to public health protocols, threatening the outbreak of disease.
Reports indicate the growing numbers of the bodies of soldiers and civilians in the streets of Khartoum and other cities affected by the war.
An environmental catastrophe is threatening because waste is no longer being collected due to the security situation, and the rising temperatures, associated with the onset of the rainy season, seem set to cause the breeding of disease vectors, risking the spread of epidemic diseases.
Most hospitals that were providing their services for emergency cases only have stopped operating because of the war.
The remains of weapons and projectiles, in addition to the increase in harmful gases in the atmosphere due to fires, are also having an impact on the environment and human health. According to Al-Makki, for every person who dies as a direct result of the war, there are nine who die due to the consequences of it.
The Sudan Doctors Syndicate, a professional association, expects there to be a significant increase in the number of deaths due to the spread of diseases resulting from the health and environmental effects of the war. In the light of the difficulties facing the healthcare sector, in which more than 70 per cent of hospitals are out of service and there is a severe shortage of equipment and life-saving medications, this situation is expected to continue to get worse.
The constant power outages are also having a serious effect on the provision of public services.
Months after the outbreak of the war, the Central Committee of Health Officers in Sudan raised the alert about the deteriorating health and environmental conditions resulting from the war in the country. However, nearly a year later, such fears still exist and are increasing.
BOMBING OF JUBAIL REFINERY: Video footage of flames rising after the Sudanese Air Force carried out air attacks on the Jubail refinery has been widely circulated on social media platforms in Sudan.
A Sudanese official working in the field of oil and energy also warned of the dangers resulting from the parallel bombing of the Al-Jili refinery in Khartoum, one of the largest oil facilities in the country, pointing to a scenario similar to what happened in the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, four years ago, when a massive explosion led to widespread destruction killing hundreds, wounding thousands, and displacing hundreds of thousands from their homes.
The Khartoum refinery is located in the Al-Jili area 70 km north of the capital. It was established in 1997 and began its operations in 2000. It is a joint venture between the Sudanese government, represented by the Ministry of Energy, and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation.
The refinery is linked by a 1,610 km pipeline to the Bashair Port on the Red Sea coast in eastern Sudan. It refines oil from wells in the West and South Kordofan states, but RSF control of these oil fields, including the important Balila field in West Kordofan, has contributed significantly to reducing the supply of crude oil to the refinery and reduced its capacity.
Before the war, the refinery’s production covered 60 per cent of Sudan’s petrol needs, 48 per cent of its diesel needs, and 50 per cent of its cooking gas needs. The refinery has been subjected to repeated bombings, raids, and fires, and violent battles have taken place in its vicinity between the two warring parties.
BIRD MIGRATION: Specialists in the field of the environment have warned of the impact of the war in Sudan on migratory birds, noting that they have become confused on their journeys due to the war and the devastation of the environment.
Sudan, which includes more than four nature reserves, has a desert climate in the north and a savannah climate in the west and centre. The period from March to July is characterised by high temperatures ranging between 42 and 47 degrees Celsius. Temperatures begin to drop when the rainy season begins in July and continue to go down until October.
The weather is moderate from November to February, with temperatures ranging between 28 degrees Celsius during the day and 16 degrees at night.
Naji Abdullah Al-Amin, a former member of the executive of the Sudanese Birds Association, said in an interview with the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that “bird migration is a seasonal movement that sees birds from the northern hemisphere follow paths south defined by natural barriers.”
“The war has confused the birds and affected the way they control their migration from the cold regions of Europe to Sudan via Egypt. This has disrupted their numbers and their ability to migrate and adapt in the future.”
Amir Khalil of the UK nature charity Four Paws told the paper that the war has also had a negative impact on nesting. “In Khartoum or Al-Baqir, places where migratory birds are concentrated, the birds will not be able to nest as usual owing to the war,” he said.
“This is due to the pollution in the atmosphere, which limits their ability to produce eggs and protect their homes. This leads to a significant decrease in their numbers and causes changes in the ecosystem in the long term.”
The decrease in the number of such birds also reduces the amount of their excrement, which contributes directly to fertilising the soil with nitrogen and phosphorus, in addition to working to restoring other nutrients and transporting seeds from different countries to Sudan. All this is also having important effects on the environment.
The concentration of internally displaced people in certain areas, increasing local demand on limited resources, is creating a vicious cycle of conflict-induced migration and environmental degradation, which can only be broken through comprehensive interventions.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Sudan shows clear signs of vulnerability to climate change. According to the Global Adaptation Initiative Matrix of the University of Notre Dame in the US, it ranks eighth in terms of vulnerability to climate change out of 185 countries and 175th in terms of readiness.
This places it in the upper left box of the Matrix, which indicates the presence of major challenges and an urgent need to take action.
Sudan scores highly on the vulnerability scale and low on the preparedness scale of the Matrix, numbers which reflect the significant obstacles to Sudan’s ability to achieve food security and sustainable development, even in the absence of conflict. The deterioration of the country’s ecosystems and the depletion of its natural resources also hamper the country’s ability to address poverty and inequality.
The intersection of climate change and resulting conflicts has greatly impacted agricultural production over the years in Sudan. Conflicts in various regions of the country have led to food shortages, reduced agricultural productivity, and diminished contributions to GDP growth.
For example, the conflict in Darfur, arising from multifaceted issues including competition over the ownership of land and water resources, has significantly affected the direct displacement of some 2.7 million farmers and herders. Moreover, critical infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and irrigation systems, has been damaged. Energy networks have been significantly damaged or destroyed by conflicts, significantly restricting economic activities.
Access to international funds for climate resilience and adaptation will be crucial for Sudan as it seeks to address the dual impacts of war and climate change. The country will need resources to repair critical infrastructure and ensure that its healthcare, food, water, and energy systems can withstand extreme weather events.
In 2020, the Green Climate Fund agreed to provide financing worth $25.6 million for an innovative climate change resilience project in Sudan that aims to enhance healthcare and food and water security for 3.7 million people in ten states. However, the coup that occurred in October 2021 has prevented the country from obtaining the funds.
Access to financing would support Sudanese in improving agricultural practices and ensuring food security, by adopting climate-smart approaches such as drought-resistant crops and effective water-management systems. Allocating funds to help restore ecosystems and sequester carbon would help restore the capacity of Sudan’s gum Arabic belt, a forested area stretching across the centre of the country, to absorb carbon. Only by confronting the challenges posed by climate change can Sudan ensure safe and sustainable soil degradation and improve the livelihoods of its people.
Conflict and its associated environmental challenges require urgent strategies to build resilience. This includes enforcing environmental laws, promoting sustainable land use, and investing in resilience and climate-change adaptation measures to reduce the impacts of conflict and climate change on the environment and people.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 4 July, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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