Mainstreaming environment and climate resilience in humanitarian and development planning and programming, as well as Government of Sudan policies, is important to minimize impacts of human activity on the environment, and to enhance positive outcomes. In turn, both can help create the conditions for increased resilience to climate change impacts.
Sudan’s people and economy rely heavily on natural resources. The availability of water, pasture, and forests are essential for rural livelihoods, agriculture, and livestock. However, Sudan’s natural environment is changing and degrading for various reasons.
Water is scarce and can taste salty, the lack of pasture contributes to local conflict, trees are cut down for firewood, the soil blows away, and farmland becomes unproductive. This situation increases poverty and vulnerability and will impact on the economic growth of the country. Some of the causes are population growth, conflict and displacement, overuse of water resources, deforestation, land-use changes, weak governance, and weak management.
In addition, a variable and changing climate in Sudan is making the situation worse, causing droughts as well as floods, and in the longer-term increasing temperature and reducing rainfall, which will reduce the viability of rain-fed agriculture and livelihoods. Humanitarians must work within this context, ensuring that climate risk does not impact its operation while also ensuring its operations do not further degrade the environment or contribute to climate impacts.
Since 2016, as part of a multi-theme, multi-year project financed by United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Sudan has been working closely with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other organizations to help support the mainstreaming of the environment in humanitarian programming and operations. UNEP has undertaken advocacy and technical support in a number of areas to promote consideration of the environment and climate risk in programme, project design and operations.
UNEP’s approach encourages all project implementers to assess the potential impacts of their planning, programming, and operations and identify measures to minimize them. UNEP’s approach includes the following four steps:
- Contextualise interventions in light of environmental vulnerabilities in project areas.
- Assess interventions for negative environmental impacts.
- Mitigate against these impacts.
- Enhance positive environmental impacts and promote sustainable natural resource management.
The assessment phase uses an “Environmental Marker” to identify if projects have a high or medium negative impact, no impact, or if they positively contribute to the environment. UNEP is currently assessing the effectiveness of the tool in order to improve it.
UNEP works in the following contexts:
- Humanitarian: UNEP mainstreams environmental issues in the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and assists the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanutarian Affairs (OCHA) in the screening of Sudan Humanitarian Fund project proposals for environmental impact. It also provides trainings and technical advice to humanitarian actors on how to assess and minimize environmental impacts.
- Development: UNEP participates in the Sudan United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) analysis and development, as well as in its implementation, thereby supporting the UN Country Team to mainstream environment and climate change. In collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), UNEP co-chairs the UNDAF Result Group on the environment outcome. UNEP also co-convenes the Collective Outcome group formed around the Collective Outcome focussing on the environment, climate resilience, and disaster risk reduction.
- Peacekeeping: UNEP provides technical advice on environmental matters for UN Peacekeeping Missions in Sudan, including the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
Related Publications:
- Sudan Integrated Environmental Programme
- Wadi El Ku Catchment Management Project
- Mainstreaming the Environment in Humanitarian Programming in Sudan (2020)
- Environmental Marker Guidance (2014)
- Sudan 2013 Humanitarian Work Plan Sector Environmental Guidelines (2013)
- Guidance note for the Humanitarian Workplan Preparation (2013)
- Destitution, distortion and deforestation (2008)
- The case for drought preparedness (2008)
