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When given the choice, take the stairs instead of the elevator to save energy and workout at the same time!
Sudan: World’s largest inland wetlands polluted by oil
White and Blue Nile (image source: wikimedia commons)
The Republic of Sudan in East Africa has been the focus of much media attention in recent years due to its brutal civil war and the practices of ethnic cleansing and genocide associated with the conflict, particularly in the region of Darfur. Though the civil war has now ended, Sudan’s strong divide between the north and south remains, as exemplified by the state of the country’s oil industry.
‘In the north, where the oil is going and the refineries are, there is an economic boom. But the production areas which should have benefited first have no services, no development. There is nothing and on the contrary, things have got worse.’
–Reverend Roko Taban Mousa, local cleric (source: AFP)
The south of Sudan’s Unity state is home the world’s largest inland wetlands, but also to huge petroleum reserves. The oil industry is a harmful source of pollution in Sudan’s White Nile marshes as well as the Nile’s Sudd tropical wetlands. Contamination of the water from oil processing facilities is affecting ‘human beings, livestock and the environment’ according to German NGO, Sign of Hope.
‘Oil exploration and exploitation in the oilfields of Mala and Thar Jath pose serious threats to human beings, livestock and the environment.’
–Klaus Stieglitz, human rights campaigner (source: AFP)
For more details on the oil industries effects on the White Nile marshes in Sudan, go to this article from the AFP.
By Graham Land
Additional resources:
Guardian – In pictures: Sudan’s White Nile marshes polluted by oil production
BBC News country profile: Sudan
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