Assessment of the Role of El Ain Reserved Forest as Natural Rangelands, North Kordofan State, Sudan

The broad objective of this research was to investigate the possibility of attaining sustainable management of forests to guarantee steadily supply of fodder to livestock and mitigate the potential of future conflicts over dwindling rangeland resources. Two types of data were used to collect the necessary information, namely; primary data and secondary data. The sources of the primary data were face-to face interview and self-administered questionnaire, while the secondary data included FNC documents, projects documents, files, articles, archives, publications and annual reports. The main findings of the research were that trees and shrubs, in the study area, provide livestock with fodder where the forests represent a natural rangeland particularly during summer when there are no grasses or herbs. Other uses of trees and shrubs were provision of building material and fuelwood. Nomads possess different types of livestock. Sheep and camels are the main types, and the number of livestock is far behind the carrying capacity of the rangeland and this has negative impact on the environment. Trees' leaves are the most edible part by livestock, followed by twigs and fruits. There is a deterioration trend in the vegetation cover as asserted by the majority of respondents due to illicit felling (high reliance on forest resources for provision of fuel wood and building material), climate change and variability, particularly fluctuation of rainfall and frequent drought cycles. The pods of many trees provide abundant, high quality fodder during the dry season. The main trees are Acacia tortilis, Dichroostachys cinerea, Faidherbia albida, Piliostigma thonningii. Hashab (Acacia senegal) is considered the most palatable tree species followed by Mokhat (Boscia senegalensis), Talh (Acacia seyal), Kitir (Acacia melifera), Sidir (Ziziphus spina-christi), Heiglig (Balanities aegyptiaca) and some other tree species. Short settlement period of livestock on reserved forests would guarantee the recover of IV the natural rangeland and automatically sustainability of rangelands as perceived by the nomads. The factors responsible for the stay of the nomads in the forest land are start of agriculture, water availability and fodder availability. The FNC and the traditional leaders have controls on use of NWFPs in the study area. Conflicts between nomads and settlers become a rule rather than exception. Sometimes other types of conflicts emerge between nomads and FNC personnel, between nomads among them salve and between nomads and farmers. Irrespective of the conflict parts, the main cause is the deterioration of the rangeland. Conflicts resolution takes the form of Juwdia, courts and fines imposed by traditional leaders. Findings revealed that nomads are willing and interested to participate in the rehabilitation of rangelands, but there are some factors like; lack of awareness, continuous travel and other priorities. Nomads declare that if social services and parcels of lands for living allotted to them they may settle in one area instead of nomadic life. In response to the process of land grabbing, pastoralists had to divert their migration routes to avoid the risk of conflict arising from damage that their animals might cause to crops in the newly established schemes. This diversion of the routes increased the distance that the pastoralists had to cover every year. Extension service is provided by the FNC using group methods and is supported by individual and mass methods. The main conclusions drawn from this research are: in the study area livestock population is far beyond the carrying capacity of the rangeland and this result in deterioration of the vegetation cover and degradation of soil. Nomads used to follow certain strategies for their seasonal movements from north to south or the opposite, they used to open new sites for grazing i. e. they do not settle at the areas in which they camped last year in order to provide a chance for natural regeneration. The study recommended the importance of considering nomads in the management plans of the reserved forests