Tropentag, September 17 - 19, 2013 in Stuttgart-Hohenheim "Agricultural development within the rural-urban continuum"

Investigation Study of Demographic Changes Impact on Rural-Urban Continuum in Semi-Arid Region

Technische Universität Dresden, Dept. of Geosciences, Germany

Abstract

Forest is an essential part of ecosystem services, not only as a resource but as a contributor to biological systems as well. The pressures imposed at any one place or point in time resulted to the complex of spatial and temporal interactions within topographical systems, can be propagated through the system and may have implications for future ecosystem functions over a wide array of various spatial and temporal scales. The aim of this study is to raise understanding of the relations between patterns of local-level economic and demographic changes, the nature and value of local ecosystem services, and the role of such services in an increasingly interlinked urban/rural livelihood systems of South Kordofan State of Sudan, specifically of those systems in poor condition. The focus particularly on forest-based ecosystem services and uses forest as an entry point for an investigation into the relationship between urban/rural development and ecosystem services. The methodology applied in the current research is two-pronged; formal literature reviews and field survey conducted on the study area. A tradition of intensive interactions between the rural and urban places has long been acknowledged, but recent changes in global political-economy and environmental systems as well as local dynamics of the study area such as: war, drought and deforestation, have led both to a new rapidity and depth in rural transformation, and a significant impact on urban area as well. Like most environmental problems, the effects of particulate matter are complex and stressed differentially across varied geographies by the socio-political processes that underlie recent economic and cultural globalisation. These interactions and processes have brought increasingly rapid changes in social, institutional and livelihood transformation across broad areas of the state. The study showed also, high rates of migration and mobility for the indigenous population as well as market-centric livelihoods now dominate in many villages that were once dominated by rural agricultural and natural resource based on socio-economic systems. More information exchange is needed to inform actors and decision makers regarding specific experiences, capacity gaps and knowledge to address poverty through maintenance of ecosystem services.

Keywords: Demographic changes, forest, poverty, rural-urban continuum, semi-arid region

Contact Address: Taisser H. H. Deafalla, Technische Universität Dresden, Dept. of Geosciences, Helmholtzstr. 10, 01069 Dresden, Germany, e-mail: taisserhassanyahoo.com