The Darfur region in Sudan stands out as a good example of the socioeconomic consequences a conflict can have on a territory and its basic resources, including the natural environment, human settlements at large and urban areas in particular. How best to identify and entrench the fresh spatial patterns that can underpin socioeconomic stabilization and future development of a huge area is the purpose of this report. The protracted conflict since 2003 has caused massive displacements of people to…

Construction of housing and public infrastructure needs to be of greater quality than what was previously used. Past practices of large-scale use of firewood to make burned bricks for construction of housing have resulted in massive deforestation of the country.

If all estimated 400,000 families currently displaced in Darfur return to their places of origin and reconstruct their destroyed homes utilizing the traditional building practices, with wood as the main structural element, they will need to find and cut an estimated 16 million mature trees.

This report presents the summary of studies carried out through a collaboration between the Government of Sudan Ministry of Physical Planning and Public Utilities and UN-HABITAT.