Arid lands (including semi-arid and hyper-arid lands) make up some 30 per cent of the world's land surface and support 14 per cent of the world's population, many of whom are considered the "poorest of the poor." In recent years considerable funds have been spent and much knowledge has been gathered about arid lands, but major mismanagement—or leek of management—continues. The United Nations Conference on Desertification in 1977 emphasized that existing knowledge, while by no means complete, is sufficient to alleviate the most immediate problems of arid lands. Thus the Natural Resources Programme of the United Nations University has focused on the factors preventing the effective use of knowledge, and then on the development of means to overcome the identified difficulties.

In order to assess the effectiveness of the transfer of knowledge, the programme commissioned several studies on topics such as the assessment of various development projects, a critical look at nomad sedentarization schemes, the variations in the perception of desertification, and the obstacles to the extension of knowledge from research stations or scientists to the people in the surrounding area.

Activities were centred at the University of Khartoum in the Sudan, and the Department of Geography of the University College of Swansea, United Kingdom, participated as a co-operating institution. After a study on Natural Resources and Rural Development in Arid Lands: Case Studies from Sudan, edited by H. R.J. Davies and published by the UNU in 1985, the present report focuses on the interactions between man and natural resources in the White Nile Province of the Sudan.

© The United Nations University, 1986

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors end do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations University.

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Contents

Preface

General introduction

I. The physical environment of the White Nile

Introduction
1. Geomorphology
2. Soil resources
3. Precipitation and climatic change in central Sudan
4. A note on vegetation

II. The human response in the White Nile

Introduction
5. Agriculture west of the White Nile
6. The changing nature of nomadism in the northern White Nile region
7. The cheese industry and underdevelopment in the White Nile
8. Marketing and trade in White Nile province
9. Man's socio-economic response to drought in the White Nile
10. Local administration, water supply, and community participation in White Nile province

III. The human and physical environments come together: a case-study of the gummuiya scheme

Introduction
11. The background to the gummuiya scheme
12. The gummuiya development scheme
13. Towards an explanation of peasant response
14. The case reviewed

IV. Conclusions and recommendations

15. The lessons to be learnt

Glossary of vernacular words

Contributors

Other UNU publications

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