Climate change could render Sudan 'uninhabitable'

By Bianca Britton, CNN

Updated 1700 GMT (0100 HKT) December 8, 2016

A gigantic cloud of dust known as "Haboob" advances over Sudan's capital, Khartoum. A Haboob usually occurs after a few days of rising temperatures and falling pressures and can change the landscape in the few hours it lasts by depositing enormous quantities of sand -- destroying villages and crops.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Sand storms – A gigantic cloud of dust known as "Haboob" advances over Sudan's capital, Khartoum. A Haboob usually occurs after a few days of rising temperatures and falling pressures and can change the landscape in the few hours it lasts by depositing enormous quantities of sand -- destroying villages and crops.
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Sudan has been affected by conflict and civil war for decades and is considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Now, Sudan's ecosystems and natural resources are deteriorating -- temperatures are rising, water supplies are scarce, soil fertility is low and severe droughts are common.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Vulnerability – Sudan has been affected by conflict and civil war for decades and is considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Now, Sudan's ecosystems and natural resources are deteriorating -- temperatures are rising, water supplies are scarce, soil fertility is low and severe droughts are common.
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Sudan's temperature is expected to rise significantly between 1.1 °C and 3.1 °C by 2060. As a result of increased temperatures and rainfall which has become erratic and inconsistent, much of Sudan has become increasingly unsuitable for agriculture -- due to either floods, or severe droughts.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Rising temperatures – Sudan's temperature is expected to rise significantly between 1.1 °C and 3.1 °C by 2060. As a result of increased temperatures and rainfall which has become erratic and inconsistent, much of Sudan has become increasingly unsuitable for agriculture -- due to either floods, or severe droughts.
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Since 2013, there have been over 600,000 displacements of people from their homes by flood-related disasters in Sudan. This includes some 122,000 people displaced by floods between June and September this year alone, with Kassala, South Darfur and White Nile states worst affected.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Floods – Since 2013, there have been over 600,000 displacements of people from their homes by flood-related disasters in Sudan. This includes some 122,000 people displaced by floods between June and September this year alone, with Kassala, South Darfur and White Nile states worst affected.
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Thousands of displaced Sudanese people have been forced to live in makeshift houses where there's few water points and no food or health services.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Displacement – Thousands of displaced Sudanese people have been forced to live in makeshift houses where there's few water points and no food or health services.
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Children scavenge food and clothing from the Juba Municipal Garbage Dump. Sudan has become one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change because of its effect on food security. 70% of the rural population are reliant on traditional rain-fed agriculture -- for both food and livelihood.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Food insecurity – Children scavenge food and clothing from the Juba Municipal Garbage Dump. Sudan has become one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change because of its effect on food security. 70% of the rural population are reliant on traditional rain-fed agriculture -- for both food and livelihood.
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A man walks with his sheep in the Abu Shouk camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP), near North Darfur's state capital el-Fasher. According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), it is estimated 1.9 million people in Sudan will be affected by reduced agricultural and livestock production -- due to smaller farming areas, poor pastures and limited water availability.
Photos: The effects of climate change in Sudan
Livelihoods – A man walks with his sheep in the Abu Shouk camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP), near North Darfur's state capital el-Fasher. According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), it is estimated 1.9 million people in Sudan will be affected by reduced agricultural and livestock production -- due to smaller farming areas, poor pastures and limited water availability.
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(CNN)Sudan's ecosystems and natural resources are deteriorating.

Temperatures are rising, water supplies are scarce, soil fertility is low and severe droughts are common. After years of desertification, its rich biodiversity is under threat and drought has hindered the fight against hunger.
This burden is affecting not only the country's food security and sustainable development, but also the homes of many Sudanese families.
    Dust storms -- known locally as "Haboob" -- have also increased in this region. Moving like a gigantic thick wall, it carries sand and dust -- burying homes, increasing evaporation to a region that's struggling to preserve water supplies, as well as eroding valuable fertile soil.
      Experts say that without quick intervention, parts of the African country -- one of the most vulnerable in the world -- could become uninhabitable as a result of climate change.
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      Increasing temperature

      "North Africa is already hot and is strongly increasing in temperature. At some point in this century, part of the region will become uninhabitable," Jos Lelieveld, a climate scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, told CNN.
      "That will string from Morocco all the way through to Saudi Arabia," he said.
      Sudan's temperature is expected to increase significantly. By 2060, it's projected to rise between 1.1 °C and 3.1 °C.
      As a result of hotter climate and erratic rainfall, much of Sudan has become progressively unsuitable for agriculture and villages.
      Irregular rain has ruined crops, and the country is experiencing both droughts and floods -- making arable land unsuitable for cultivation and displacing more than 600,000