Land Degradation in the Dinder and Rahad Basins: Interactions Between Hydrology, Morphology and Ecohydrology in the Dinder National Park, Sudan

The spatial and temporal variability of the hydro-climate as well as land use and land cover (LULC) changes are among the most challenging problems facing water resources management. Understanding the interaction between climate variability, land use and land cover changes and their links to hydrology, river morphology and ecohydrology in the Dinder and Rahad basins in Sudan is confronted by the lack of climatic, hydrological and ecological data.

This book investigated the impacts of land degradation on the Dinder and Rahad hydrology and morphology, and interlinkage to the ecohydrological system of the Dinder National Park (DNP) in Sudan. It used an ensemble of techniques to improve our understanding of the hydrological processes and LULC changes in these basins. This included long-term trend analysis of hydroclimatic variables, LULC changes analysis, field measurements, rainfall-runoff modelling, hydrodynamic and morphological modelling of the Dinder river and its floodplain, with special focus on the Mayas wetlands. Moreover, this research is the first study to investigate the eco-hydrology of the DNP. It is expected that the results of the study will be beneficial to all stakeholders concerned and support decision-making processes for better management of water resources and ecosystem conservation in the area and possibly beyond.

Khalid E. A. Hassaballah is a civil engineer with seventeen years of experience covering different aspects of water science and engineering including: Hydroinformatics, catchment hydrology and modelling, hydraulics and river engineering, river morphology, reservoir simulation and optimization, reservoirs bathymetric survey, water resources planning & management and GIS & remote sensing applications. Khalid is currently working as a senior researcher at the Hydraulics Research Center and Director for Training and Capacity Building, Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, Sudan. In 2010, Eng. Khalid graduated from the MSc Program in Water Science and Engineering, Hydroinformatics specialization, from UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands. Since November 2012, he has been working on his PhD at the same institute (now IHE-Delft). During the course of his PhD, he studied the impacts of land degradation on the Dinder and Rahad hydrology and morphology and linkages to the ecohydrological system of the Dinder National Park, Sudan, using a combination of different methods. Moreover, he attended the courses requirement for the graduate school for Socio-economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE).

Between 2010 and 2012, he worked for the Eastern Nile Watershed Management Project (ENWMP) as a water resource specialist for the Sudan component. Beside his PhD work, Khalid has also been involved in many projects at national, regional and international levels. In 2013, he was involved in the sedimentation and operation study for upper Atbara dam complex (SOSADC) national project as a hydrological modeler. In 2015, he was involved in the Tekezi Atbara project for IGAD as a catchment modelling advisor and supervisor. Later in 2018, Khalid participated as a team member of the Eastern Nile flood preparedness and early warning system at ENTRO. All together has qualified him to be appointed as National team member for the negotiation on filling and operation of Grand Ethiopian Renascence Dam (GERD) since September 2019, and Director for Training and Capacity Building for the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources-Sudan since February 2020.

Eng. Khalid is a full member of the Sudan Engineering Society (SES), Sudan Engineering Council (SEC), National Member of Nile Basin Initiative Decision Support System Network (NBI/DSSN) and representative of the IHE-Delft Alumni Sudan. Khalid is also a visiting lecturer at University of Gezira, Civil Engineering Department, and a regularly invited reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals.