The Dinder national Park in Sudan was established in 1935 and is a recognized UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of 10,000km2. It features wetland, savannah, and woodland ecosystems. Keyu challenges to conservation include persistent human-wildlife conflict, due to encroachment by herders and agricultural expansion and resultants habitat loss and declining wildlife populations.
The Alitash national Park in Ethiopia was founded in 2006. just across the border from Dinder and covers 2,666 km² of woodlands, grasslands, valley hills, and seasonal river systems. It functions as a critical ecological corridor with Dinder, fostering transboundary wildlife movement and tourism.
The parks face significant challenges, including human encroachment for agriculture and grazing, poaching, illegal logging, and fires, all of which pose a threat to the biodiversity of the ecosystem. The lack of a formal, active transboundary management agreement is a key barrier to effective conservation efforts across the border.
There is a need to promote cross-border collaboration. Objectives would include establishing a cross-border ecological corridor and sharing conservation efforts.
<p class="MsoNormal">The Alatish-Dinder Transboundary Park Project was one of 13 potential first-round investment projects identified in 2007 under the Cooperative Regional Assessment (CRA) of Watershed Management in the Eastern Nile Basin. The 13 projects identified under the CRA focused on watered degradation ‘hot spots’ characterized by increasing population pressure on a degrading natural resource base. The Alatish National Park (2,666 km<sup>2</sup>, Ethiopia), and Dinder National Park (8,960 km<sup>2</sup>, Sudan) are located along the Ethiopia-Sudan border and form a contiguous ecosystem with a high diversity of plant and animal species due to their location on the ecotone between the Sahel and Ethiopian Highlands eco-regions, and location along a major migratory bird flyway between Eurasia and Africa. The two parks are important for protecting the main sources of water for the Blue Nile, Dinder and Rahad Rivers. The biodiversity of the two parks is threatened by surrounding communities, among whom is a large number of internally displaced persons. Members of the surrounding communities in the two countries, who number over 150,000, encroach on the two parks to poach wildlife, graze and water livestock, cultivate crops, fish in the rivers in the park, collection of honey, cutting trees for firewood, and starting bush fires.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The objective of the Alatish-Dinder Transboundary Park Project is to support the coordinated sustainable management of the two parks and protection of their biodiversity. Project interventions include supporting coordination and network between the two governments and conservation NGOs in the two states; coordinated development of management plans for the two parks; capacity building for park officials; capacity building for local communities to engage in co-management of the parks; construction of tourism and patrol roads in the two parks; construction of park administrative buildings; conducing joint research and monitoring programmes</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Prefeasibility studies were performed on the project in 2010-2012 under the Watershed Delineation and Prioritization Project and re-prioritized in 2015 under the Multi-Sectoral Investment Opportunities Assessment (MSIOA) conducted under the Nile Cooperation for Results (NCORE) Project.</p>
<p>The objective of the Alatish-Dinder Transboundary Park Project is to support the coordinated sustainable management of the two parks and protection of their biodiversity. Project interventions include supporting coordination and network between the two governments and conservation NGOs in the two states; coordinated development of management plans for the two parks; capacity building for park officials; capacity building for local communities to engage in co-management of the parks; construction of tourism and patrol roads in the two parks; construction of park administrative buildings; conducing joint research and monitoring programmes.</p>