The Jonglei Canal: Impact and Opportunity

by Edited by Paul Howell , Michael Lock , Stephen Cobb

• ISBN13: 9780521105491
• ISBN10: 0521105498
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The vast area of swamp and wetlands of the Southern Sudan, the Sudd, absorbs and dissipates by evaporation about half the inflow from the upper catchment of the White Nile. Ways and means of reducing these losses by canalisation have been under engineering investigation since the beginning of the twentieth century, the objective being to provide additional water for irrigation and hydro-electric power in Egypt and the northern Sudan. Construction of the Jonglei Canal began in 1977; at the end of 1983 it was halted by civil war, 260 kilometre from its outfall and 100 kilometres short of completion. In the area through which it passes it will, if ever completed, have varied local effects; it will reduce the seasonally river-flooded grasslands, which are of crucial importance to the pastoral sector of the local economy and cut the line of seasonal migration of man, livestock and wildlife. Yet it will bring benefits and opportunities as well as adverse effects. Based on scientific studies of the area carried out in the early 1950s and again between 1978 and 1983, the aim of the book is to present a multi-disciplinary survey of the very complex interrelated hydrological, ecological, biological and human problems involved.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Controlling the Nile

The genesis of the Jonglei canal

The Jonglei Canal Project: stage one

Water use and demand in the Nile Basin

The Natural Environment of the Sudd Region

The influence of Lake Victoria: climatic change and variation in river flows

Hydrology of the Bahr el Jebel swamps

The biological effects of variation in water quality

Ecology of plants in the swamps and floodplains

Vegetation change in the Jonglei area

The People of the Jonglei Area: Introduction

Society and rural economy in the Jonglei area

Recent change among Nuer and Dinka peoples of the Jonglei area

Agriculture and the Exploitation of Natural Resources

Livestock and animal husbandry

Crop production: traditional practice, constraints and opportunities

Fish and fisheries

Wildlife

The Local Effects of the Canal

Effects on climate, water and vegetation

Effects on livestock, fish and wildlife

Local effects in the canal zone

Rural Development and the Future

Rural development, 1972-83: a decade of unfulfilled promise

Conclusions: looking to the future

Appendices

Epilogue

References

Index

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