Khartoum – UN Environment, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Environment, UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and other key federal institutions in Sudan came together for the first advisory committee meeting of the ADAPT! project.
and UN Environment’s Hassan Partow.
Funded by UKaid, the ADAPT! project is the first of its kind to be implemented in Sudan. It seeks to improve environmental governance and build the resilience of the Sudanese people to climate change – especially in parts of the country most vulnerable to the effects of environmental degradation. The work plan for ADAPT!, which outlines the priority activities for 2017, was unanimously adopted by the committee.
Chaired by the Minister of Environment, Dr. Hassan Abdelgadir Hilal, the advisory committee plays a key role in realizing the aims of this innovative project. It is the formal mechanism for project coordination between government partners, DFID, UN Environment and civil society on implementation. Through regular meetings, it will provide ongoing strategic guidance and institutional support to help make the project a success.
Conservation Society (SECS) and Khartoum University’s Institute for Environmental Studies (IES).
The ADAPT! project is important as Sudan’s people and economy strongly depend on the country’s natural resources. People’s livelihoods, however, are being undermined by environmental degradation and development challenges. The changing climate in Sudan and the region is making the situation worse.
Limited water and pastures increases tension between farmer and pastoralist communities desperate to maintain their livelihoods. Trees are cut down for firewood and survival but are not replaced. Limited trees and dry weather scatters fertile soil with the wind. Eventually, what was once farmland becomes wasteland. This hurts people relying on agriculture for their food, livelihoods, and further prompts a cycle of poverty and vulnerability.
ADAPT! aims to drive change and a better future for the people of Sudan. Working through partnerships, the project seeks to ensure science-based decision and policy-making, and strengthen institutions, capacities and coordination to improve natural resources management and climate change adaptation.
The successful endorsement of the ADAPT! 2017 work plan by the project’s advisory committee signals another step in achieving these objectives.
