Environmental crisis and its impact on women. The case of the Sudan.

The savannah belt of the Sudan particularly the central region of the northern Kordofan provides resources for agricultural and pastoral activities and yields the destruction and misuse of renewable resources. Desertification has eliminated lands from production at a time when there is a greater demand for land from the increasing population. Environmental damage also involves water deficiencies and seasonal rain patterns which promote communal grazing and lead to overgrazing. Wood or charcoal for fuel is increasingly in short supply and the need to travel further to obtain access to fire wood and charcoal has increased. Other conditions which contribute to environmental degradation are the variability of the climate the lack of rainfall or presence of drought and rural-urban migration. Agricultural production is low due to overregulation of irrigated land inefficiency of agricultural cooperatives inappropriate or unjust pricing policies lack of inputs and high cost of transportation and agricultural operations. When environmental deterioration occurs woman are the first to suffer; when economic gains occur women are the last to receive the benefits. Women are affected through increased work loads and harder work loads cause by loss of productivity of the land. The fuel wood crisis means women must walk farther to obtain adequate supplies for cooking. Also when wood is unavailable or of limited availability or the price rises the quality of food declines or a reduction in nutritional intake occurs. When rainfall is uneven or soil quality has been compromised larger tracts of land must be cleared. Nomadic existence is disrupted when lands are degraded; settlement leads to unemployment and loss of wealth. Water shortages mean uncertainty about crop production greater distances to obtain water and unsafe water supplies which contribute to disease. Smoke from cooking also impairs the health of women. The conditions of migrant women on urban fringes are so wretched that income generation schemes would not succeed. Recent efforts have been made through international organizations to involvement women in different schemes to improve the environment and increase their quality of life and well being but it is too soon and the scale is too small to see any demonstrative effects.