They were fearful of the consequences of a protected area, which would mean that grazing and fishing would be prohibited or limited, ending a way of life that their tribes had always known.

It is part of a Trans-Border Biosphere Reserve that is a popular bird breeding site because of the mixing of fresh and salt water in the Senegal River delta.

The species found here include northern pintail, northern shoveler, greater flamingo, lesser flamingo, Eurasian spoonbill, African spoonbill, great egret, great white pelican, Arabian bustard, pied avocet, slender-billed gull, Caspian tern, greater hoopoe-lark and Sudan golden sparrow.

[4] The site has also been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant wintering populations of waterbirds.

[4] In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included Diawling National Park in the list of African natural heritage sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the 21st century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5, which is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4 °C.,[8] and is no longer considered very likely.