Environment

South Sudan is a landlocked country that falls almost entirely (96 per cent) within the Nile River Basin in East-Central Africa. It is bordered in the north by Sudan; by Ethiopia and Kenya in the east; by Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the south; and in the west by the Central African Republic. It occupies an area of 658,842 km2. The country is covered by extensive grasslands, wetlands and tropical forests. Its natural assets include significant agricultural, mineral, timber and energy resources. The climate is mostly hot and dry, with seasonal rains that allow for two or three harvests a year in the country’s green belt. Apart from oil, however, its natural resources are largely unexploited and only 4.5 per cent of its potential arable land is cultivated.
South Sudan is inhabited by a number of different ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Dinka, a traditionally pastoralist people that makes up 36 per cent of the population. It is followed by the Nuer, who constitute about one-fifth. Other groups include the Zande, the Bari, the Shiluk and the Anywa (Anwak). In total there are 64 ethnic groups in South Sudan. There is also a small Arab population in South Sudan.
With less than 13 people per square kilometre, population density in the country is one of the lowest in Africa. Livelihoods in the northern dry areas are dominated by seasonal agriculture, pastoralism, fishing and hunting. The country is divided into three regions (the former historic provinces): Bahr el Ghazal in the northwest, Equatoria in the south and Greater Upper Nile in the northeast. There were ten states, which are now divided into thirty two.

The report is divided into three parts. Part I covers the status, trends, threats to biodiversity and its implications for human well-being. Part II deals with the status of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in South Sudan including its implementation and mainstreaming of biodiversity while Part III presents progress that South Sudan has made towards achievement of the 2011-2020 Aichi Biodiversity targets and its contribution to the relevant 2015 Targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
South Sudan is the newest member of the Convention on Biological Diversity, having acceded to it only on 17 February 2014. It is also the youngest nation politically having gained its independence in 2011. Its effort to conserve biodiversity must be looked at in this light. It has also gone through a long period of war and insecurity
which has had a very negative impact on biodiversity in a manner that has not been experienced by many countries around the world.

Over the past two decades, the rangelands of Eastern Africa have experienced sweeping changes associated with growing human populations, shifting land use, expanding livestock marketing and trade, and greater investment by domestic and global capital. These trends have coincided with several large shocks that were turning points for how rangeland inhabitants make a living. As livelihoods in the region’s rangelands transform in seemingly paradoxical directions, away from customary pastoralist production systems, greater insight is required of how these transformations might affect poverty and vulnerability. This article reviews the state of what is known regarding directions of livelihood change in the rangelands of Eastern Africa, drawing on case studies of structural change in five settings in the region. It considers the implications of long-term change, as well as the emergence of very different livelihood mixes in pastoral rangelands, for efforts to reduce poverty and vulnerability in these places.

This report shares Oxfam’s experience with a water treatment plant community-led operator in Juba, South Sudan. It contributes to the debate on the role that communities can play in the process of managing water supply systems amid protracted crises. The report gives guidance on how to support professionalization of community services by providing business, governance and institutional support, and calls on donors and implementing agencies to develop WASH programmes which consider medium-term institutional support that ensures sustainability and pro-poor accessibility.

While South Sudan is endowed with 3.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the exploitation of this natural wealth is turning into a catastrophe for some local communities, particularly in Melut County. Through focus group discussions, individual interviews, and field observations, we found the following:

Many households in Paloch, Melut County, are in close proximity to oil wells and facilities, and within a short distance of a large lake of toxic produced water, exposing them to highly toxic chemicals.
Livestock graze around the oilfields, passing on highly toxic pollutants to residents through the food chain.
Community drinking water, held in containers that are placed on dusty roadsides by Dar Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC), and chemical containers used by community members to hold water, are likely sources of human exposure to toxic pollutants.
Communities have repeatedly complained about a high prevalence of petroleum pollution that causes diseases and reproductive health issues, including birth defects, infertility, stillbirth, and miscarriages, among others. We discovered 13 cases of birth defects, including spinal bifida, facial and head deformities, sexual organ deformities, limb deformities, and growth retardations.
All of the participants expressed anger and frustration, a sign of a more serious potential crisis that could cripple petroleum industry operations in the area, if not prioritized and addressed.


We recommend the following to the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGONU) and DPOC:

Urgently identify areas sufficiently distanced from the oil fields, build basic services infrastructure in those areas, and relocate residents away from the oil fields and facilities;
Fence off the oilfields to prevent access by humans, livestock, and wildlife;
Conduct a comprehensive environmental and social assessment similar to the one that was conducted in Ogoniland in Nigeria by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the extent of pollution damage, determine compensation and remediation costs, and make recommendations that are enforceable through an act of parliament or a presidential order; and
Expedite the tabling, review, and passage of the draft Environmental Protection and Management Bill to strengthen environmental protection rules and enforcement capacity to better protect the health and welfare of those South Sudanese suffering from oil industry operations.

The effects of climate change are expected to be greatest in the Horn of Africa countries, particularly those, such as South Sudan, whose populations are reliant on rain-fed agricultural production to meet their food and income needs. As one of the least developed countries in the world, South Sudan’s population is dependent on climate sensitive natural resources for their livelihoods, making the country particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. South Sudan’s future economy will be significantly influenced by climate change and the potential for socio-economic losses and damages due to climate change is one of the largest unknowns in the country’s future.

This CSRF briefing paper explores current climate context and trends in South Sudan, peers into the future of climate change and reflects on consequences of it on the economic and climate sensitive sectors in South Sudan. Lastly, the briefing paper suggests responses for policy and practice such as providing climate sensitive aid and supporting the Government of South Sudan to develop AND implement a national strategy for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

In South Sudan, access to energy is crucial for survival, recovery and resilience in what is an extremely challenging economic and security environment. Fueling Poverty—a product of the Energy on the Move project—examines the challenges of meeting everyday energy needs for the urban population of Juba. Recent urbanisation, conflict and economic crisis have fundamentally reshaped the amount and forms of energy that people can access. Primarily this has involved a major expansion of the charcoal trade and reliance on urban markets for purchasing household fuel, with implications for environmental degradation and conflict potential in the surrounding rural areas. In particular, the report focuses on the lives of Juba’s women, who are at the forefront of the daily effort to find fuel. It concludes that more efforts—both national and international—should be made to improve access to clean and affordable energy sources, which are fundamental to the health and wellbeing of both people and environment.

This report examines policy and institutional response to climate change and environmental disaster risks, with the view to providing recommendations to the government and its partners in South Sudan on where to focus their environmental policy interventions. To get a sense of the policy and institutional measures, we interviewed key government officials and examined legal and policy documents on environment, disaster management, food security, seeds, agriculture and livestock, fisheries, forestry, wildlife, land, electricity and petroleum and related institutional frameworks in target areas.

Climate change has increased the frequency of severe droughts, floods, storms and cyclones in various parts of the world (IPCC 2007, IPCC 2012, IPCC 2013, Meadowcroft, 2009). In South Sudan, seasonal patterns have become erratic and rain-fed agricultural areas have decreased significantly in the northern and eastern parts of the country (Funk et al., 2011). Rainfalls have decreased in South Sudan by 10-20 % and temperatures have increased by more than 1 ºC since the middle of the 1970s. These rainfall and temperature changes are linked to increase in atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) since the industrial revolution (IPCC, 2013, IPCC, 2012, the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, 2014). The atmospheric CO2 has worldwide increased by 40% since the industrial revolution, and about 70% of this has been emitted since the mid-1970s (ibid).



Observations suggest that patterns in which floods and droughts occur in the same season have become widespread, with droughts happening earlier in the season around May/June and floods occurring later around August/September in South Sudan. These climatic shocks have wider negative impacts on people in terms of food security, health, and safety needs. The government and relevant actors can develop policy and institutional measures to address these shocks.

This review explores the magnitude of this year’s flood and its impacts in Bor Town. We used a boat to get us around the town surveying the extent of flood water and measuring its depth in the streets and in the residential neighborhoods. We also used the GPS to capture the geographical coordinates submerged under water, showing exactly the depth of flood in the town by locations.

In the context of the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), May 2019, this brief summarises key considerations about bushmeat (meat derived from wild animals for human consumption)in the context of preparedness activities in South Sudan. The brief details the socio-cultural and socio-economic significance of bushmeat amongst at risk communities and perceived risks of Ebola transmission through bushmeat. Its geographic focus rests on South Sudan’s south-western border with the north-eastern border of the DRC, where Yambio is the state capital and primary population hub. Key considerations and recommendations are tailored for this specific area, and may not be necessarily generalisable for other parts of South Sudan or beyond.

The brief is presented in two sections. ‘Section A’ focuses on bushmeat in light of the immediate risk of Ebola transmission from the active outbreak in the DRC to South Sudan (i.e., cross-border human-to-human transmission and in relation to the bushmeat trade). ‘Section B’ focuses more broadly on bushmeat in this specific geographic area, and the longer-term risk of a new Ebola or other infectious disease outbreak in South Sudan, as related to local bushmeat practices (i.e., unrelated to the current outbreak in DRC). The structure of this brief is designed to separate these issues and to support response partners to differentiate between the priorities for immediate preparedness activities underway in South Sudan and longer-term prevention actions.