Sudan

Adaptation to climate change is a very compelling subject for the people of Sudan, burdened as they already are with devastating and recurring droughts, as well as severe hardships in the ability to coping with even current climatic variability.

Major adaptation activities and needs that have been identified across the five ecological zones include, Community-based forest and range land management and Rehabilitation and Replacement of household goat herds with sheep herds to reduce pressure on fragile range lands.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa. Its total area is over 250 million hectares, much of which is comprised of arid lands and desert.

Sudan lies within the tropical zone between latitudes 3o and 22o North and longitude 22 o to 38o East. Mean annual temperatures vary between 26oC and 32oC across the country. Rainfall, which supports the overwhelming majority of the country's agricultural activity, is erratic and varies significantly from the northern to southern ranges of the country.

The unreliable nature of rainfall, together with its concentration in short growing seasons, heightens the vulnerability of Sudan’s rain-fed agricultural systems. The most extreme temperatures are found in the far northern part of the country, where summer temperatures can often exceed 43oC and sandstorms blow across the Sahara from April to September.

These regions typically experience virtually no rainfall. In the central area around and just south of Khartoum, average annual temperatures are around 27oC, with rainfall averaging about 200 mm/year and rarely exceeding 700 mm/year.