Scarcity and SurfeitCase Study 1 : the Jonglei Canal
Top-down development models are an important dimension of Sudan's civil
war. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Strategic Framework Document for Sustainable Water Management, sound
and equitable water management practices can have stabilising effects on
society, particularly when stakeholders are involved in the decision-making
processes. The stalled Jonglei Canal project in the Sudan is an example of a
water resource development project that was mooted and initiated without
sufficient consultation and sharing of information with local communities.
Consequently, it became part of the increasing social, economic and political
tensions that started the current conflict in south Sudan.
Jonglei means 'alien god' in Dinka. To many southerners, this 'alien god'
was a foreign promise of development imposed upon them, and thus unac-
ceptable.
The Jonglei Canal was first mooted in 1904 by Sir William Garstin of the
Egyptian Ministry of Water in order to increase the flow of water from the
Nile to meet the increasing demand for water in Egypt. Almost 50% of water
passing through the Sudd is lost through evapo-transpiration. The objective
of the Jonglei Canal was to harness this water through the construction of a
canal and several dams.
The First Nile Agreement between Sudan and Egypt was signed in 1929.
The governments of Sudan and Egypt established the Jonglei Investigation
Team in 1948 to study the impact of the proposed canal. The study indicated
that the canal would have severe impacts on the livelihoods of local commu-
nities populating the region, including the Nuer, Dinka and Shilluk, as well
as on the ecology of the Sudd Swamp upon which local livelihoods were
based.
In 1959, the Second Nile Agreement was signed between Sudan and Egypt
increasing Sudan's share of the Nile waters after Egypt built the Aswan High
Dam to store and regulate its share of the Nile waters. The two countries
established a Permanent Joint Technical Commission for Nile Waters to man-
age further Nile water projects.
By 1973, Sudan had exhausted its share of the Nile waters yet required more
water for irrigation projects in the mid-regions of the country. The Jonglei
Canal project was subsequently launched, without sufficient consideration of
the likely negative impacts identified by the Jonglei Investigation Team.
Southern communities strongly opposed the canal for the following reasons:
The canal would greatly change their way of life especially pastoralists
whose grazing systems would be curtailed by construction of the canal.
The canal would block movement of livestock and wildlife and divide
communities.