state of the environment in Somalia - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

Box 2. The Somali Traditional ecological classification system, deegaan
The Somali people, especially the nomads, who live in close contact with the environment have an
extended knowledge of plant-animal-fundamentals (Barkhadle, 1993). Most plants and animals have a
local name and their phenology, distribution and ecological zones are known: the use of virtually every
plant within the grazing zone – the deegaan, which might range from 200 km 2 to 2,000 km 2 – is known.
Under the traditional system of ecological classification, 16 categories are recognized, as follows
(Barkhadle, 1993):
Guban – “burnt area” in Somalia language – land (Dhulka Guban)
Buraha – mountain – land (Dhulka Buuraleyo)
Howd – bush or thicket – land (Dhulka Howd)
Daror – large plain – land (Dhulka Dharoor)
Sol – a highland area – land (Dhulka Sool)
Nugal – a specific valley – land (Dhulka Nugaal)
Mudug – much of central Somalia – land (Dhulka Mudug)
Iid – named after the yicib plant – land (Dhulka Ciid)
Deh – without high shrubs or trees – land (Dhulka Deexda)
Doboy – clay – land (Dhulka Dhobooy)
Bakol – an area where Commiphora trees dominate – land (Dhulka Bakool)
Gedo – land only suitable for animal (especially camel) grazing) – land (Dhulka Gedo)
Bay – the area which receives the highest rainfall – land (Dhulka Baay)
Adable –flat area with small mountains – land (Dhulka Adableh)
Doy – between the two banks of the Jubba and Shabeelle rivers – land (Dhulka Dooy)
Wamo – land lying between Badhaadhe and Kismayo and from Kismayo to the Kenyan border – land
(Dhulka Waamo)
based in Nairobi, Kenya. The full cabinet returned to Somalia in June 2005 to begin the difficult process of
national reconciliation and reconstruction.
Three teams were established, of which the first comprised 30 members of government led by the Prime
Minister and left for Mogadishu in February 2005. Smaller groups from this team were then deployed to other
regions in the south and central Somalia with the intention of establishing the TFG’s presence there and to start
dialogue with the people. A second group of ministers was tasked with the physical relocation of the members
of parliament and the delegates who participated in the peace process, while a third team, which
remained in Nairobi, assessed the challenges and obstacles to the relocation process and prepared the
agenda, strategies and an action plan for the installation of the government inside Somalia. For administrative
purposes, Somalia is divided into the 18 regions or gobollada (singular gobolka) of Awdal, Bakool, Banaadir,
Bari, Bay, Galguduud, Gedo, Hiran, Jubbada Dhexe, Jubbada Hoose, Mudug, Nugaal, Sanaag, Shabeellaha
Dhexe, Shabeellaha Hoose, Sool, Togdheer, and Woqooyi Galbeed.
Despite the existence of a new government, a proliferation of competing administrations, factions and militias
remain, all of which strive to assert their own authority (UNHCR, 2005a). Hence there is the self-declared state
calling itself “Somaliland” in the north-west, the self-declared autonomous region calling itself “Puntland” in
the north-east, and the continuing warlordism in “Jubbaland” in and around Mogadishu in the south. Neither
“Somaliland” nor “Puntland” has been recognized by the international community, but it is only in these two
Environment in Somalia 14 UNEP Desk Study