An article in the Chicago Tribune caught my eye, because it made me think of ways in which people’s actions may unexpectedly influence the environment around them in ways that no one may have even predicted. The article reported on the return of elephants, as well as many other animals, to the since rcently war-torn area of southern Sudan. During the long and bloody struggle between North and South Sudan, the longest and most costly struggle in Africa’s history, many animals that had previously resided in southern Sudan had migrated away to get away from the fighting and the death. But in 2005, a peace deal between the northerners and southerners brought relative peace to the area.
Two years after the treaty was signed, large groups of animals that previously were indigenous to southern Sudan are returning, bringing much excitement to scientists and environmentalists in the area. Some of the animals that are returning include: elephants, giraffes, antelopes, lions, leopards, and gazelle. After large numbers of these animals left years ago, some thought that many of them would never return. An arial survey of the area revealed that the number of antelopes in the area is calculated to be around 1.3 million, which is one of the easons that some are looking at this as one of the largest mammal migrations in history.
The animals are returning because of the peace that has returned to the area, but that peace is very fragile and tensions are rising again between the North and the South. If the peace is broken, it could not only mean a return to the bloodshed that had plagued the area for years, but it could also mean that the animals will once again leave the area and push into other ecosystems, causing environmental imbalances in other areas.
The article made me think of ways in which war and other human activities that we may not think of as being inherently damaging to the environment can seriously affect the environment surounding it. It just goes to show that almost every major human activity has some kind of impact on the environment.
