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On 21 March 2018, the UNESCO Khartoum office and Sudanese National Commission for Education, Science and Culture (NATCOM) with support of the Division of Ecological Sciences at UNESCO HQ organized a workshop to review the stature of the UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) in Sudan. The title of the workshop was “Biosphere Reserves (BRs) towards Sustainable Development”, and it took place in the Grand Holiday Villa hotel in Khartoum, attracting about 50 participants linked to Sudanese national parks from different parts of Sudan.

©UNESCO: MAB Workshop in Khartoum, Sudan, 21/03/2018: Participants

Opening the workshop, Prof. Abdin Salih, the Sudan’s member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, welcomed the attendees and gave a brief introduction about the biosphere reserves (BRs) and their importance for safeguarding biodiversity of the planet. He thanked Dr. Pavel Kroupkine, the Representative of UNESCO to Sudan, Dr. Miguel Clusener-Godt, the Director of the Division for Ecological Sciences in the UNESCO HQ, and Dr. Salwa M. Abdelhameed, the Chair of the Sudanese National MAB Committee for supporting the MAB Programme in Sudan. Then, Dr. Pavel Kroupkine, the Representative of UNESCO to Sudan, welcomed the participants and stressed on the importance of joining the efforts of the academic sectors, professionals and the counterparts for the benefit of the future of the BRs in order to keep them for the next generations. He thanked Dr. Miguel Clusener-Godt, the Director of the Division for Ecological Sciences in the UNESCO HQ, Dr. Antonio Abreu, the UNESCO Expert, who worked in the Red Sea coast of Sudan, and the Sudanese Wildlife Conservation Administration for their support for the MAB Programme in Sudan. Dr. Siddig Mohammed Gasm Alseed, the representative of the Ministry of Tourism, Antiquities and Wildlife, valued the MAB Programme very high, and expressed the Ministry’s satisfaction by the MAB committee. He explained the country’s understanding of the purposes of the BRs since their establishment in Sudan in 1973, which include scientific research, monitoring, protection, and safeguarding of the Sudanese nature. Dr. Abdelmahmoud Alnour, the representative of NATCOM, briefed the participants on the establishment of BRs in Sudan, their socio-economical and environmental importance, and their contribution to the 2030 Development Agenda. He appreciated the efforts of UNESCO in supporting the organization of new reserves in Sudan and making possible the joint Sudanese-Ethiopian project around transboundary issues of Al Dinder (Sudan) and Attish (Ethiopia) BRs. Brigadier General Mr. Kahl M. Alamin Mukhtar, the representative of the General Directorate of Wildlife Conservation Administration in the Ministry of Tourism, Antiquities and Wildlife, concluded the opening session mentioning that the UNESCO MAB programme serves the 2030 Development Agenda of the country. He overviewed different successful practices of other countries in reserve protection. He attracted an attention to such challenges for reserves, as desertification, poverty and diseases.

©UNESCO: MAB Workshop in Khartoum, Sudan, 21/03/2018: Delivering to Sudan the official certificated for the Jebel Al Dair biosphere reserve, registered in 2017.

Then, the representative of UNESCO to Sudan, Dr. Pavel Kroupkine, and the Director of the Division for Ecological Sciences at UNESCO HQ, Dr. Miguel Clusener-Godt, delivered the official certificate for , which was recognized by the International MAB Committee in 2017, to the relevant Sudanese authorities.

After the coffee break, the technical session started by a presentation of Dr. Miguel Clusener-Godt, where he briefed the participants on UNESCO MAB Programme, explained the substance of the biosphere reserves (BRs), their three buffer zones with their functions. He displayed the BRs as model regions for sustainable development; introduced the World Network of BRs (WNBR). He explained the new MAB strategy for 2015-2025, and Arab Region MAB network launched in 1997 in Amman, and the World Network of Islands, and Coastal BRs (WNICBR).

©UNESCO: MAB Workshop in Khartoum, Sudan, 21/03/2018: Presentation by Dr. Miguel Clusener-Godt, the Director of the Division for Ecological Sciences at UNESCO

In his presentation “Prospective for a Future Biosphere Reserve in the Sudanese Red Sea”, Dr. Antonio Abreu, the UNESCO Expert, reported on his mission to the Red Sea coast of Sudan. He highlighted the issues of the potential marine BRs, mentioned natural outstanding values, described Dungonab Bay and different interesting mangrove sites. He discussed ways to resolve the BRs challenges such as the habitat fragmentation, pollution, coral bleaching, exotic predatory species, etc.

Then, the national Sudanese professionals overviewed the stature of the existing Sudanese BRs: Al Dinder, Radom, and Jebel Al Dair. The presenters of this part of the technical session are current managers of the BRs.

After the presentations, there was technical discussion centered on how to improve conservation of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Sudan.