Harnessing Gum Arabic to Strengthen Sudan’s Trade Bargaining Power, Livelihoods, Peacebuilding, and Green Finance

Purpose: This paper explores how Sudan’s absolute advantage in gum arabic can enhance trade bargaining power, improve rural livelihoods, build peace, and promote green finance. It highlights its economic, environmental, and sociocultural significance. Design/Methodology/Approach: A multidisciplinary approach combines a literature review, policy analysis, and stakeholder insights to examine trade patterns, production capacities, institutional challenges, and financing opportunities. Findings: Despite supplying over 70% of global gum arabic for decades, Sudan under-utilises its potential due to policy gaps and unsustainable practices. An integrated strategy involving policy reform, capacity building, sustainable management, and innovative finance could maximise its benefits. Originality/Value: This paper frames gum arabic as both an economic commodity and a tool for peacebuilding, resilience, and green transition, offering a novel interdisciplinary perspective. Research Limitations/Implications: Based mainly on secondary data, the paper addresses the gap by creating global research on the species. Practical Implications: Guides policy-makers, investors, and producers. Keywords: Gum Arabic; Senegalia Senegal; Rural Livelihoods; Peacebuilding; Green Finance; Sustainable Development. Citation: Adam, I., Abdulrahman, H. and Elkhidir, H. (2025): Harnessing Gum Arabic to Strengthening Sudan’s Trade Bargaining Power, Livelihoods, Peacebuilding, and Green Finance, International Journal of Gum Arabic (IJGA), Vol. 1, No. 1/2, pp. 43-56.