When The Forest Breaks The Cake Rule

PortSudan(Sudanow)- You can't have your cake and eat it too.

The meaning of the proverb is clear: if you eat the cake, it's no longer there to keep, and if you keep it, you can't eat it.

This proverb is often used in contexts that require choosing between two opposites, and to indicate aspects of life that cannot be combined.

The proverb "you can't eat your cake and have it too" fits most contexts, but it doesn't quite apply to forests. It seems possible to "eat from the cake" (harvest forest resources) while still keeping it (preserving the forest).

With these words, Dr. Abdelazim Merghani, former Director General of the National Forests Corporation, university professor, and former Secretary General of the National Council for Combating Desertification at the Ministry of Environment, began his discussions with Sudanow about the importance of forests and how to benefit from them in increasing income and supporting the national economy.

For example, an urban forest like the Acacia forest. In the peak of summer, when residential areas record temperatures of 36°C, the forest records only 30.5°C.

This 5.5°C difference, according to the World Bank's formula, translates directly to reduced pressure on electric cooling. For every degree of cooling, there's a 5% energy consumption savings. For a household with a summer electricity bill of 10,000 SDG/month, this would mean saving approximately 2,750 SDG/month. Over the 3-month summer period, the household would save around 8,250 SDG.

If 1,000 households benefit from the forest's shade, the net profit would be over 8 million Sudanese pounds in a single season, all without harming the forest.

Forests not only moderate the climate but also reduce noise pollution. Measurements show that the sound level on a main road far from the forest is 75 decibels, while it drops to just 60 decibels behind the forest. This 15-decibel difference means that the sound energy is reduced by over 95% (according to physical calculations), making the noise feel almost halved to the human ear.

Dr. Abdelazim Merghani notes that
studies on the European real estate market estimate that every 1 decibel reduction in noise in a residential area increases property value by 0.4%. Therefore, a property worth 5 million Sudanese pounds would increase in value by approximately 300,000 pounds, or 6%, thanks to the forest, without any harm to it.

While water pumping stations generate constant noise and require endless maintenance efforts, forests like the Al-'Ain forest near El-Obeid in North Kordofan continue to perform their role silently, ensuring a stable water supply to the city.

This is the same wisdom that inspired New York City to invest $1.5 billion in protecting its forests, which supply its water, instead of building a water treatment plant that would cost $8 billion.

New York wasn't an exception; many major cities around the world have followed suit, proving through experience that forests can serve as infrastructure without concrete. Their roots can replace the most expensive and complex industrial facilities in securing water.

By protecting forests to secure clean water at a lower cost than building industrial infrastructure, these ecosystems have been integrated into the water plans of major cities worldwide.

Dr. Abdelazim adds that local experiences in Sudan have shown that forests can contribute to supplying cities with water, reducing heat, and mitigating noise pollution. "Eating the cake and keeping it" is possible when we manage forests effectively as infrastructure. However, these experiences have remained confined to administrative frameworks and have not been translated into a comprehensive national policy or received official recognition for their role in water and urban development plans, unlike cities like New York, Melbourne, and Bogotá.

This prompts us to rethink the concept of forests themselves. For instance, the value of an acacia forest is not measured solely by the number of its trees but by its cumulative benefits: clean air, psychological calmness, stable water supply, and increased property value. Forests prove to be not just an environmental luxury but a soft and effective infrastructure that serves cities continuously without requiring energy or maintenance.

It's high time to recognize forests as a national infrastructure that is no less important than roads, dams, and water networks. What's needed is to formally integrate them into water and urban development plans and include them in infrastructure budgets, just as cities around the world have done, recognizing the value of investing in nature. This can contribute to increasing income, supporting the national economy, and promoting tourism in Sudan.

MENAFN03082025005684012485ID1109878902