تدهور الأراضي والتصحر والجفاف في السودان: مراجعة شاملة للأسباب والآثار وعمليات الاستصلاح

This study provides a comprehensive analytical review of land degradation, desertification, and drought in Sudan. It examines the current status of these phenomena, identifies the climatic, anthropogenic, and socioeconomic factors driving them, and assesses their environmental, social, and economic consequences. The study also reviews selected Sudanese case studies that illustrate the spatial variation of land degradation, desertification, and drought, while examining existing policy and institutional frameworks and identifying the principal gaps and challenges that constrain sustainable land and natural-resource management. The study adopts an integrated analytical framework linking the current situation, underlying drivers, multidimensional impacts, case studies, existing policies and institutions, key challenges, and proposed solutions and recommendations. The review indicates that land degradation, desertification, and drought are interconnected and multifactorial processes shaped by the interaction of climate change, rainfall variability, rising temperatures, recurrent drought, unsustainable agricultural and pastoral practices, vegetation loss, weak governance and financing, and the consequences of armed conflict. The study concludes that addressing this crisis requires an integrated approach combining vegetation restoration, sustainable rangeland and water management, improved rain-fed and irrigated agriculture, stronger land-tenure security, better access to finance and productive resources, and more effective monitoring and early-warning systems. It also emphasizes the importance of protecting livelihoods and supporting peacebuilding. Integrating satellite observations, field measurements, and socioeconomic indicators is essential for evidence-based decision-making, together with strengthened scientific research, knowledge transfer, and innovation in sustainable land management.