Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape

Why this place matters

UNESCO’s assessment of its heritage significance, adapted in formatting from the source dataset.

Brief synthesis

The Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape (BBML), covering approximately 11,250,000 hectares in South Sudan, encompasses Boma National Park, Badingilo National Park and the wider floodplain and savanna landscapes that together sustain one of, if not, the world's largest remaining terrestrial mammal migrations. Located at the interface between the Sudd wetland system and the East Sudanian Savanna, the property comprises an extensive mosaic of seasonally flooded grasslands, wetlands, floodplains, woodlands and savannas that support large-scale ecological processes driven by seasonal rainfall and flood dynamics. The property supports the movement of millions of migratory ungulates across a vast and largely unfenced, unimpeded landscape. The migration remains ecologically functional and continues to operate across extensive seasonal habitats and migration corridors, making it one of the last remaining examples of a large-scale terrestrial migration system functioning at a landscape scale.

In addition to its migratory wildlife, the property supports important populations of numerous large mammal species, together with significant populations of waterbirds and raptors associated with the floodplain ecosystem. The property's exceptional scale, ecological connectivity and relative intactness underpin ecological and biological processes that have become increasingly rare globally.

Criterion (vii):

The Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape contains one of, if not, the world's most spectacular remaining wildlife migrations. Each year, an estimate six million White-Eared Kob, Tiang and Mongalla Gazelle move across vast floodplains, wetlands and savannas in response to seasonal flooding and changing resource availability. The scale of the migration, extraordinary numbers of animals involved and the largely intact landscape through which it occurs combine to create an exceptional natural phenomenon of global significance, representing one of the last remaining wildlife spectacles of its kind.

Criterion (ix):

The Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape is an outstanding example of ongoing ecological and biological processes associated with large-scale ungulate migration in a seasonally dynamic savanna ecosystem. The interaction between seasonal flooding, corresponding vegetation productivity and associated wildlife movements sustains what is likely to be the largest remaining terrestrial migration of land mammals in the world. The migration system facilitates ecological connectivity across extensive floodplains, wetlands and grasslands and supports ecological processes that have become increasingly rare as comparable migration systems elsewhere have been fragmented or lost.

Criterion (x):

The property contains significant habitats for the in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including globally important populations of migratory ungulates and numerous threatened species. The BBML supports globally significant populations of White-Eared Kob, Tiang and Mongalla Gazelle together with important populations of Nile Lechwe, African Savanna Elephant, African Wild Dog, Lion, Leopard, Northeastern Africa Cheetah, Beisa Oryx and other species of conservation importance. The extensive and relatively intact floodplain and savanna ecosystems also provide habitat for important assemblages of waterbirds, raptors and migratory bird species associated with the Upper Nile Basin and migratory flyways. The size, ecological connectivity and habitat diversity of the property contribute significantly to its importance for biodiversity conservation within the East Sudanian Savanna and the greater Nile Basin region.

Integrity

The property includes the principal migration routes, seasonal habitats, floodplains, wetlands and ecological processes necessary to sustain the large-scale migration system for which it is inscribed. Its exceptional scale and inclusion of the wider migratory landscape are fundamental to the integrity of the property and reflect the ecological reality that the migration system depends upon ecological connectivity across a vast and dynamic landscape. The property retains the key ecological attributes necessary to convey its Outstanding Universal Value, including large migratory wildlife populations, extensive seasonal habitats and relatively intact migration corridors. However, at the time of inscription, the property faces significant threats, including commercial poaching and wildlife trafficking, infrastructure development, insecurity, potential extractive activities, incomplete protection and management arrangements across parts of the wider landscape, and limited institutional and financial capacity.

The long-term integrity of the property will depend upon maintaining ecological connectivity, safeguarding migration corridors and seasonal habitats, and ensuring that future development does not adversely affect the ecological processes that underpin Outstanding Universal Value.

Protection and management requirements

The property includes two legally protected areas, Boma National Park and Badingilo National Park, which provide an important foundation for conservation. The property is managed under the authority of the Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism and benefits from a management partnership with African Parks. The Wildlife Conservation and Protected Areas Act and other relevant legislation provide the principal legal framework for conservation. The long-term conservation of the property requires a landscape-scale approach to protection and management due to the fact that the ecological processes and migration system that underpin its Outstanding Universal Value are found largely beyond the boundaries of the two national parks.

Priority actions, at the time of inscription, include strengthening legal protection within the national parks and across the wider migratory landscape, completing and implementing an integrated landscape-scale land-use and management framework, strengthening consultation, engagement and partnership with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, enhancing management capacity and infrastructure, maintaining ecological connectivity, conserving migration corridors and seasonal habitats, and strengthening governance arrangements for areas outside the existing protected areas. Effective conservation will require sustained investment in law enforcement, ecological monitoring, research, community engagement and institutional capacity, together with measures to address commercial wildlife exploitation, infrastructure development and other pressures affecting the property. The meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in governance, planning and management processes, including through Free, Prior and Informed Consent, will be essential to the long-term conservation of the property's Outstanding Universal Value.