_____________________________________________________________________ Protected Areas Mutasim Bashir - Frazer Tong 1. Introduction Sudan exhibits a diversity of soils and the water resources, mainly from the Nile, which extends 2258km from the South to the North. Rainfall varies from 0 in the North to 1200mm per annum in the South. The diversity in climate and soils results in rich biodiversity. The diversity in wildlife species is, therefore, due to a wide variety of ecosystems and vegetation types found in the Sudan. Setzer (1956) reported 224 species and subspecies of mammals (excluding bats), belonging to 91 genera. It is worth mentioning that out of 13 mammalian orders found in Africa, 12 orders occur in the Sudan. There is also a variety of bird species. Macdonald (1955) reported on the distribution of 871 species of birds in the Sudan. Nicolaus (1987) produced the distribution atlas of Sudan's bird with notes on habitat and status and included information on 931 species. There is little information on amphibians and reptiles. 2. Protected Areas in the Sudan There are about 26 areas that are gazetted and declared by the state as protected areas and equal number of areas have been proposed as protected areas. Tables 1-5 respectively show the distribution of protected areas over the ecological zones of the Sudan. These protected areas include national parks, game reserves, game Sanctuaries and proposed protected areas. Some of these protected areas were gazetted as far back as 1935, while others were recently established such as Wadi Howar National Park in 2002 and Jebel Hassania in 2003 (Fig. 1). Growing concern about the status of many protected areas has led to increased interest in effectiveness of the protected areas system and calls for more frequent assessment and revision to assure that protected areas continue to preserve the values for which they were created. Although we have limited information on the status of protected areas in the Sudan, increasing evidence suggest that many are under pressure or are actually experiencing degradation and subsequent loss of biodiversity. The Sudan has made a tremendous effort to establish significant number of protected areas covering more than 10% of the total area of the country. These areas have played a significant role in safeguarding the countries biodiversity, sustaining ecosystem process, and contributing to livelihood of rural communities. Unfortunately, Sudanese protected areas now face increased threats associated with pressures form land use changes in adjacent areas, effects of large scale biophysical changes, inadequate institutional capacity, and enormous financial shortfall in protected areas management agencies and specific protected areas sites. Nevertheless the Sudanese government have continued to demonstrate commitment to Wildlife Conservation (in general) as reflected by the Khartoum Declaration which was signed by the president in 2002 expressing commitment towards wildlife conservation, and was also demonstrated by the presidential declaration of two protected areas in Jebel Hassania and Wadi Howar in 2002 and 2003. The government has continued to demonstrate commitment to protected areas and biodiversity conservation through support to all major international conventions. However Conservation status in all "Protected areas" of Northern Sudan is considered unsatisfactory. __________________________________________________________________ 1 _____________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2 _____________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 3 _____________________________________________________________________ Table 1 : Distribution of Protected Areas Over Ecological Zones in the Sudan Ecological Zone Desert Semi-desert and Marine Savannah Flood Plain Rain Forest Mountain Total National Parks Wadi Howar N.P Senaneb Marine N.P. Jebel Hassania Dinder N.P Radom N.P Southern N.P Nimule N.P Boma N.P Badingulo N.P Shambe N.P None None 11 Game Reserves None Tokar Sabaloks Game Sanctuaries None Chilkon Achana Nemutina Juba Kidepo None None None None 3 None 12 Source: Wildlife General Administration Table 2 List of National Parks in the Sudan Name Dinder Area Increased Establish Date Area (hectares) 1935 890 000 1982 1029 100 Southern N. Park 1939 2 300 000 Radom N. Park 1983 1 250 000 1980 Nimule N. Park 1945 41 000 Boma N. Park 1986 2 280 000 Badingulo N. Park 1986 1 650 000 Shambe N. Park 1985 62 000 Senganeb Marine N.Park 1990 26 000 Wadi Howar N. Park 2002 10, 000, 000 Jebel Hassania N. Park 2003 Source: The Wildlife General Administration Ecological Zone Savannah Savannah Savannah Savannah Savannah Flood Plain Flood Region Semi-desert Desert Semi-desert Table 3: List of Game Sanctuaries in the Sudan Name Arkawit-Sinkat Arkawit Khartoum – Sunt Forest Establieh Date 1939 1939 1939 Area (hectares) 12 000 82 000 1 500 Ecological Zone Semi-desert Semi-desert Semi-desert Source: The Wildlife General Administration Table 4: List of Game Reserves in the Sudan * Name Achana Bengangai Chilkou Establieh Date 1939 1939 1939 Faugikang 1939 Area (hectares) 90 000 17 000 500 000 48 000 Ecological Zone Savannah Rain Forest Savannah Flood Plain __________________________________________________________________ 4 _____________________________________________________________________ Juba 1939 Zeraf Island 1939 Toker 1939 Sabeloka 1939 Mbarizunga 1939 Bire Kpatues 1939 Kidepo 1939 Namutina 1939 Source: The Wildlife General Administration 20 000 970 000 630 003 116 000 1 000 550 000 120 000 210 000 Savannah Flooded Region Semi-Arid Semi-desert Rain Forest Rain Forest Savannah Savannah * Status of conservation in Several of these areas is questionable Table 5: Proposed Protected Areas in the Sudan Proposed Site Khashm Al Girba Dam BS Lake Abiad BS Lak Kailak BS Lake Kundi BS Lake Nuba BS Sennar Dam BS Abroch GR Boro GR Machar GR Mukawar MNR Port sudan MNP Lantoto N.P Suakin Arcipelago N.P Imatong Mountains NCA Jeel Elba NCA Jebel Mara Massif NCA Lake Ambadi NCA LAk Noch NCA El Rosieries Dam BS Jebel Aulia Dam BS Jebel Hassania Jebel Gwge Massif GR Red Hills GR Source: The Wildlife General Administration Area (hectares) 10 000 500 000 3 000 2 000 10 000 8 000 150 000 150 000 450 000 12 000 100 000 76 000 150 000 100 000 480 000 150 000 150 000 100 000 70 000 100 000 10 000 15 000 3. The Wildlife Act. (1986) The Wildlife Animals Ordinance of 1935 was the beginning for establishing protected areas in the Sudan. Part III of this Ordinance enables the Minister responsible for Wildlife resources to establish national parks and reserves. The present Wildlife Act (1935) updated 1986 serves as the main legal code for Wildlife conservation and Management. The law enforcement is practiced through anti poaching unit that is responsible for patrolling the wildlife areas. This unit is poorly equipped and therefore its performance is not effective. The Wildlife Act of 1986 prohibits hunting in national park and game reserves and hunting may be permitted in game reserves only under the authority of a special permit issued by the Director of the Wildlife administration. It also prohibits residence, cultivation, grazing of domestic animals and felling of trees in national parks and game __________________________________________________________________ 5 _____________________________________________________________________ reserves. Any other human activities within protected areas are prohibited by Wildlife Act. The Wildlife Ordinance has been criticized in several areas. For instance, it lacks a clear cut distinction between a game reserve and a game sanctuary. Although the Wildlife Administration has drafted new wildlife legislation, it has not yet been completed for ratification. The IUCN categories of protected areas will be included in the new legislation. The Government of the Sudan has shown a strong commitment to wildlife conservation and protected areas as reflected in signing several international and regional agreements such as the African Convention, the MAB and World Heritage Sites Conventions and the Biodiversity Convention. The total area of the protected areas amounts to about 10% of the total area of the Sudan. The National comprehensive Strategy 1992-2002 stated that protected area (Forest and Wildlife) should be increased to 25% of the area of the Sudan. 4. Conservation Status Of Protected Areas Most of the protected areas exist on paper. Darling (1961) noted that the reserve system, as a whole, had been inadequately staffed. Hashim and Nimir (1978) made the same remarks that the Wildlife administration had done very little to enforce conservation in protected areas. They also stated that all protected areas in the Sudan have experienced serious deterioration in the densities and numbers of wild animals and their habitats. This is specially true for protected areas in Southern Sudan where the civil war had serious impact on the Wildlife resources. All protected areas in the Sudan, are without "management plans", except two national parks. Although Southern National Park had a management plan, it was not implemented because of the outbreak of the last civil war. A management plan for Dinder National Park has been endorsed by the Wildlife General Administration but its implementation is interrupted due to lack of funds. Despite the fact that both Dinder and Radom National Parks have been declared as "Biosphere Reserves" in 1979 and 1982 respectively, no measures have been taken to implement the relevant MAB concepts. 4.1. Status of Protected areas in Northern Sudan: The Dinder National Park DNP is confronted with several threatening problems such as trespassing livestock, poaching , increased human settlements in surrounding areas. These problems arise primarily from other conflicting land use practices, and hence can only be addressed in the context of an overall land use plan for the whole region. GEF – UNDP project 2000 – 2005 succeeded in developing a management plan for DNP involving all stakeholder adopting the biosphere reserve model. All three-surrounding states were convinced to revise the land use in areas around the park. Unfortunately the DNP Project is not operating now due to termination of the project 15 months before its planned end. Raising funds for the 5 years action plan to implement the management plan, and land use planning in surrounding states to cater mainly for the pastoralists problem are the major tasks to be conducted to follow up on conservation measures initiated by Dinder Project. Consolidation measures of the successful measures taken by Dinder Project in establishment of Village Development Committee is also recommended. The second most important wildlife area in Northern Sudan is Radom National Park (RNP) which is located in Southern Darfur State bordering on the West Sudan – Central Africa Republic international border and on the South the boundary between the states of Southern Darfur and Bahr El Ghazal. RNP covers on area of 11344 sq.km of woodland savanna on clay plains with scattered hills and rock out-crops. The RNP is intersected by a network of streams of which Adda, Umbelasha and Rikki are the most important. The RNP was established in 1980 and was declared as a biosphere __________________________________________________________________ 6 _____________________________________________________________________ reserve to protect a rich variety of wildlife including: elephant, giraffe giant eland, korrigum Damaliscus Lunatus Korrigum, waterbuck, kob buffalo, reedbuck, hippopotamus, hyaena, lion, leopard, wild dog, monkeys and a rich variety of birds. The RNP was subjected to serious degradation due to trespassing of livestock, illegal settlements and poaching following the drought trends which affected Darfur during the 1980s and 1990s and the civil war which followed. Wildlife in RNP has been severely affected. Elephant, giant eland, korrigum, giraffe and hippopotamus are no longer observed in RNP and numbers of other species are declining. Senganeb Marine Park was established in 1990 while the Dungunab or Mukawr Marine Park was established in 2004. Management plans were developed for the two parks by PERSIGA, however implementation of management plan will require serious capacity building for the Wildlife Administration as it lacks experience in managing of marine ecosystems. The two desert national parks established through presidential decrees in Jebel Hassania in the Nile State and Wadi Howar in Northern Darfur, Northern Kordofan and Northern State will require development and implementation of management plan. Game reserves and game sanctuaries lacked serious protective measures for their wildlife or habitats. These areas were not subjected to regular patrolling, monitoring or assessment. Due to WCGA these areas were considered as low priorities and the meager resources allocated to the department were directed to Dinder and Radom parks. The Rahad Game Reserve RGC which was mainly established to act as a buffer area for DNP was degazetted in 1994 in response to the lobby by Farmers Union of Gedarif State who claimed that there were no wild animals left in RGR and the government agreed to their demand and allocated about 40% of the area of RGR to mechanized rain-fed farming, and the reset of the area was divide between the forestry corporation, the wildlife and range and pasture administrations. The Sabaloka Game Reserve had lost the Barbary sheep which was the main species it was established to protect and most of its vegetation was subjected to overgrazing. Similarly Tokar Game Reserve lost most of its Wildlife. The Sanctuaries are not better than the reserves. They are hardly patrolled and no permanent staff was present in any of them. Today the Khartoum Bird's Sanctuary is being threatened with the development of high rise urban centres, roads and bridges. 4.2. Status of Protected Areas in South Sudan South Sudan has about 16 protected areas, shows the locations of these protected. Several of these protected areas (all reserves) have been, for a long period of time, depleted from game species and therefore exist only on paper. Such game reserves are Juba, Achana, Chelkon and Baro. Others were hard hit by poachers, like Namutina, Shambe, Fanyikang and Kidepo. Before last civil strife, there were high wildlife species populations in Southern, Boma, and Badingalo national parks. The common wildlife species in these parks include: elephant, Giraffe, Buffalo, Giant eland, Lezzer eland, Tiang, Lions, hyaena, Wild African Hunting dog, Lewel hartebeest and in Boma, zebra and white-eared kob. Since the establishment of most protected areas in early 1930's there had never been any form of management plan for the protected areas. Mainly encouraged in Anti-poaching activities. Consequently and in addition to the negative influences of the …… on wildlife populations, one can courageously say that the present status of the protected areas in South Sudan is dis cauragious. Some important such rare wildlife species might have already been wiped out, for example Oryx and Grant's gazelle in Eastern Equatoria. In order to have a better picture on the present status of protected areas in southern Sudan, it is recommended that the Government of South Sudan should consider the following seriously: i. Total ban. On hunting for a suitable period, __________________________________________________________________ 7 _____________________________________________________________________ ii. iii. iv. To conduct wildlife species survey all over the South. To forcefully enforce wildlife Act. Of 1975 or any Act thereafter. To make management plans for those areas which still hold viable population of wildlife species. 5. The Wildlife Conservation General Administration (WCGA). The Game Preservation Branch was established in 1902 as a small office and was manned by British ex-army officers. During the early years during their rule the British were concerned with the wide possession of firearms among the natives. The collection of rifles and ammunition campaigns, which the British started went on very slowly as the natives were reluctant to give up their rifles (The Sudan Intelligence Report, 1900). The major concern at that time was not to control hunting but to control the possession of firearms. Serious efforts in wildlife conservation were started after the Sudan signed the London Convention in 1933. Soon after that Wildlife laws were developed. The objectives of the Game Preservation were briefly stated as: protection of rare species (in accordance with international obligations), organization of traditional hunting, organization of hunting sport, and protection of human lives, livestock, and crop from depredation by wild animals. National parks, game sanctuaries and game reserves were established in the 1930's, A few Sudanese game scouts were recruited. Like their British Superiors, who were ex-army officers, they were ex-army soliders. In 1946 an ex-army officer was appointed as Dinder National Park first park warden with ten game scouts and 30 Sudanese police men armed with rifles and bren guns. Poaching was reported to be controlled after four years of sporadic fighting with poachers (Talbot, 1959). The Game Preservation Branch directed much of its attention and manpower to controlling wildlife damage problems. Molloy (1951) reported that Game Control Staff Consisted of two game officers and 30 game scouts whose duty was the protection of native crops against raids by elephant and buffalo and protection of their livestock against lions, leopards, and hyaenas. Habitat management was not practiced with the exception of periodical distribution of salt in some game areas. Wildlife transplantation was practiced in the 1920s as seven Barbary Sheep were reintroduced to Sabaloka Hill to replace the stock which was exterminated during the Mahdia (Forbes, 1949). Following the independence of the Sudan in 1956 the national government developed the governmental agency entrusted with enforcing wildlife laws and executing conservation policies. Several Changes were introduced in the relationship of the wildlife conservation agency, the Game and Fisheries Department, since that time, to other governmental agencies and ministries. After the independence, the Game and Fisheries Department used to be under the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Animal Resources and that affiliation continued till 1964. In 1965 the department was put under the direct supervision of the Minister of Animal Resources. At the beginning of 1970s the Fisheries Section was separated. The Game Section was named The Wildlife Preservation Department and was transferred to the newly established Natural Resources Agency of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources. Soon after that another change was made in the name of the department replacing "Preservation" with "Conservation". In 1974 the Wildlife Research Unit, which was established within the wildlife department in 1988, was separated from the department and became part of the Agricultural Research Corporation of the Ministry of Agriculture and remained there till mid of 1990s when it was transferred to the ministry of Animal Resources Research Corporation of the Ministry of Animal Resources, and when the ministry of science and Technology was established the Animal Resources Research Corporation was moved to that Ministry. In 1981 after long legal disputes about the rights of the "armed" game scouts and officers to form trade unions – like other governmental workers and professionals, it was ruled that the game scouts and game officers could not join trade unions and were declared as organized __________________________________________________________________ 8 _____________________________________________________________________ forces. After that Wildlife Administration was separated from the Ministry of Agriculture and became part of the Ministry of Interior. Another change was made in 1983 when the Administration separated from the Ministry of Agriculture and became part of the Ministry of Interior. Another change was made in 1983 when the Administration of Wildlife Conservation Forces (AWCF) was separated from the Ministry of Interior and came under the newly established Ministry of Tourism, Hotel, and Wildlife Forces. In the beginning of the 1990s the AWCF was again affiliated to the Ministry of Interior and the name changed to the Wildlife Conservation General Administration WCGA and that situation continued till 1994 when the Ministry was "technically" affiliated to the newly established of Environment and Tourism Ministry while the Administration of the WCGA remained with the Ministry of Interior. Soon after that the WCGA was totally shifted to the Ministry of Interior when the personnel of WCGA where considered apart of the Sudan Police Forces and wildlife officers were transferred to other police departments and replaced by police departments and replaced by police officers with no wildlife training. However this situation was again ended in 2006 when once again the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife is reestablished and again become technically" responsible for the wildlife Administration while the "administration" will be with the Ministry of Interior. Accordingly personnel recruitments, evaluation, salaries, retirements and after service benefits are the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior while Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism is in charge of technical aspects such as enforcement of wildlife laws and regulations, establishment and management of protected areas, control of trade in wild animal parts and international conventions. Such arrangements were often subjected to problems of unability of new ministries such as the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife in getting needed funds to execute the technical programs. 6. The impact of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on Protected Areas Conservation: Wildlife Conservation is considered a global concern as wild animals and birds are never restrained by political borders. This element is frequently addressed in global conservation conventions. The CPA in schedule A para 25 states that signing global conventions is the responsibility of the federal government. Schedule B para 2 stated that legislature and executive powers in relation to police, prison forces and wildlife forces is the responsibility of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS). Schedule C para 21 stated that development of natural resources and forestry resource is the responsibility of the concerned state government and the states government share the responsibility with federal government in relation to environmental legislation and executive powers. The Sudan transitional constitution 2005 deat with wildlife resources as a renewable natural resource according to the following: Article 11-1 states that the Sudanese people have the right in a clean, healthy and diverse environment and the government and people of the Sudan shall conserve the environment and the biodiversity. Article 11-2 The government shall not conduct or permit any action that could result in a negative impact on ecosystems, plant or animal species. Article 11-3 The government shall establish the proper legislation that will enhance the sustainable use of the natural resources. Accordingly the citizen's responsibility to conserve the environment were included. The establishment of a wildlife authority at the state, "region" and federal level was indicated in article 149-1. __________________________________________________________________ 9 _____________________________________________________________________ Section 13, chapter 1 included rules governing sharing of wealth where article 185 para 8 states that the government shall follow up appropriate methodology in the sustainable utilization of the natural resources. Chapter 2 of section 13, article 186 para 3 addressed land related legislation and customary practices and in article 187 indicated the responsibilities of the Land Commission which included land registration, and mitigation of land related conflicts. Chapter 3 which is related to petroleum related issues in article 190 included governing rules for petroleum sector which included to follow up national environmental polices, legislations for conservation of biodiversity and protection of cultural heritage. Chapter 4 which included financial resources in article 190 included as income for states revenue from licenses, taxes on tourism, and projects in protected areas. Among national concerns were included national lands and national natural resources. Chapter 4 para 2 stated that police, wildlife, and prison are the concern of Southern Sudan Government GOSS, tourism and environment were included as concern of GOSS, and also states land and natural resources. Shared concerns and responsibilities between states, GOSS, and federal government included environmental issues, where the states responsibility include conservation and development of natural resources and forestry resources. The Constitution articles 11-2 and 185 – 8 indicated the government should conserve the biodiversity. The Government responsibilities at the national level include: management of protected areas, conducting wildlife surveys and research and deciding on management and levels of sustainable use for each state, coordinating environmental awareness campaigns, conducting Environmental Impact Assessment EIA, and act as the focal point for global and regional conventions. GOSS is to conduct, in collaboration with the National Government, surveys and set the bag limits for hunting, be responsible for management of protected areas, promote wildlife based tourism and exchange data and information with the states and national government. As for the states the application of national directives and rules in relation to wildlife management, sustainable use, and conduction of wildlife based activities. 7. Discussion The frequent changes in affiliation of WCGA to other governmental agencies and ministries clearly indicate lack of vision or strategy, and consequently the result of governmental conservation efforts since independence could be rated as very poor. The WCGA programmes and activities are not coordinated with relevant organizations, and are not subjected to regular monitoring and evaluation. The WCGA is run as a policing and licensing agency with little attention to the scientific basis of managing renewable natural resources, and in absence of any appreciation to the communities needs and interests. Moreover the WCGA kept playing the favorite tune of the Ministry of Finance, that wildlife is the best investment, and although they succeeded to get requested budgets for a year or two, failure on returning the promised in profits resulted in being unable to receive more support from the Ministry of Finance for running conservation activities. While the affiliation with Ministry of Interior succeeded in getting the WCGA salaries and prestige, but it resulted in distancing the WCGA from natural resources managing agencies. The current situation prevailing after the reestablishment of the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife is repeating old mistakes. Two ministries will be sharing supervision, financing and following up of the programe of the WCGA. Overlap and neglect of major areas such as monitoring and evaluation could not be avoided. The task of strategic planning monitoring and evaluation could not be addressed by the two ministries who lack the capable technical __________________________________________________________________ 10 _____________________________________________________________________ staff to address wildlife related issues. Although the Wildlife Research WRC is conducting surveys and research in protected area, they don not have official capacity to influence the management of these areas. There are a number of challenges and conflicts facing protected areas in the Sudan. These include: Population pressures resulting in increased demands in natural resources. Civil unrest and its impacts on natural resources. Limited Knowledge about the wildlife resources. Insufficient trained staff. Lack of funding for resource management Conflicting landuse practices. Poverty. Constrained relationship with neighboring communities. Inadequate coordination among stakeholders. Lack of understanding of concepts of integrated environmental management processes. Climate change and its effects such as drought and flooding. Lack of effective trans-boundary cooperation. The Government of Sudan G.O.S should be commended on its support to WCGA and for keeping the protected areas that was established by the Colonial government. The G.O.S also managed to add five more protected areas (including two marine national parks and two desert national and one park in the high rainfall savanna). The National Comprehensive Strategy NCS (1992- 2002) indicated that protected areas and reserved forests should be increased to 25% the area of the country. The Council for Ministers of the (Services Ministries Sector) in 2001 established a committee of representatives of Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Interior (WCGA), Ministry of Animal Resources, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Ministry of Justice. The committee was to discuss the deterioration of protected areas, to recommend the best way for management of protected area and to suggest ways and means for supporting the management of protected areas. The recommendations of the protected areas committee include the following: Protected Areas related recommendations of NCS 1992 – 2002 and National Action Plan for Conservation of Biodiversity should be implemented. It is suggested that the President should issue a declaration stating the commitment of the state towards wildlife and protected areas conservation. The WCGA affiliation to Ministries and agencies should strengthen relationship with natural resources administrations, states governments, and research institutes. Conservation strategy for protected areas should be developed in consultation with all stakeholders. A national council for protected areas under presidential supervision should be established. The council should be responsible for implementation of the national conservation strategy for protected areas, fund raising, capacity building and promotion of protected areas. Revise the constitution to clarify wildlife related responsibilities at state, region and national level. Local communities and states governments should be involved in the protected areas management and should benefit from the revenues of protected areas. Revise protected areas categories, revise legislation and strengthen relation ship with regional and international organizations. Establish a national fund for supporting protected areas. __________________________________________________________________ 11 _____________________________________________________________________ The above recommendations were fully endorsed by the Council for Ministers in 2002. A presidential issue "Khartoum declaration" was issued showing strong commitment towards wildlife and protected areas conservations several new protected areas were established through presidential decrees. However the other recommendations are not yet implemented. The Way Forward: Wildlife Conservation is stressed in National Strategies. The National biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan considers protected areas as important area for in-situ conservation. Protected areas conservation should be incorporated in national and states land use plans. There is a need to reexamine the status of all protected areas (in the North and South). Some of the protected areas no longer fulfil their purpose and realistic decisions should be taken. The post conflict situation in Southern Sudan and Darfur will include major developments (return process) of displaced people, new infra structures, consideration of finalization of the Jongeli canal, oil prospecting activities….etc) that will have decisive impact on wildlife. Environmental Impact Assessments should be required prior to all major development projects. The Sudan Constitution did not state clearly the variations between state's authority and national authority in relation to the management of protected area. Already some states are requesting to get full control of the protected areas falling within their states. The WCGA should be developed into a natural resources management unit/ However its law enforcement role should be strengthened and benefits achieved by the personnel when they joined the police force should not be compromised. The WCGA should be an independent unit with strong links and coordination mechanisms with the natural resources and research institutes. Employment of wildlife officers should be mainly from university graduates of wildlife and natural resources departments. All unlicensed firearms in Southern Sudan and Darfur should be collected. Hunting should be banned for a period of five year all over the Sudan to be followed by wildlife assessment. Management plan for all protected areas should be developed. The WCGA should benefit from research conducted by the WRC and universities. Scientific bodies should be involved in the management of protected areas. __________________________________________________________________ 12 _____________________________________________________________________ Literature Cited 1. Cave, F.O and J. D. Macdonald. 1955, Birds of the Sudan, their identification and distribution. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh and London, PP. 444. 2. Darling, F.F. 1961, Towards a game policy for the Sudan. Report submitted to the Ministry of Animal Resources, Khartoum, Sudan. Memo. PP 31. 3. Forbes , A. 1949. Game worden notes. Sudan Wild1. And Sport 1 (1): 14 – 16. 4. Hashim, I.M. and M.B. Nimir. 1978. A new policy towards, protected areas in Northern Sudan. (In Arabic) The first Game Officers Conference, the wild1. Admin. Khartoum, Sudan, Unpubl. paper, PP 13 5. Molly, C.P.G. 1951. Game preservation in the Sudan. Sudan Wild1. and Sport 2 (1): 19-34. 6. Nicklaus, J. 1987. Distribution Attas of Sudan Birds with Notes on Habitats and status. Berner Monographien PP 332. 7. Setzer, H.W. 1956 Mammals of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Proc. Of U.S. Nat. Hist. Mus. 106: 447-587. 8. SIR. 1900 SIR 74 Sudan Intelligence Report to the Governor General. Archived Material. Sudan Libarary 4 of Khartoum. 9. Talbot et al 1965. The meat production of wild animals in Africa. Tech. communication & Comm. Weath. Animal Breed Genet., No 16, Comm. Agric. Bur, Farnhan Royal, U.t. __________________________________________________________________ 13