Authorities in Kajo-Keji County of South Sudan’s Yei River State have issued local orders banning logging of government, private and all natural forest reserves.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj Monday, the county commissioner, Amos Longa Modi said security agencies were instructed to implement the order, warning that anyone who violates the law would be punished.
“I put in place a commissioner’s order and logging has stopped. Today, we don’t have any one destroying the forest in Kajo-Keji County. Forest is very essential because it gives us good things and we do not want to be destructive to our forests,” said Modi.
“Any person found will be arrested and charged in court and people heard the order and its being followed seriously,” he added.
Modi said authorities are creating awareness on the dangers of cutting forests, while encouraging people to plant more trees to preserve the environment from negative impacts of climate change.
Last month, officials in the county complained about the massive illegal forest logging, exposing the county to environmental degradation, mass wastage and prolonged dry seasons in the area.
South Sudan currently has no forestry policy and its authorities are worried they could lose the country’s tropical forests, unless stringent measures are put in place to curb rampant rates of illegal logging.
In February, an investigative report from Africa Uncensored exposed how the lumbering of teak wood in South Sudan is evidence that the country’s long civil war has turned into a fight for natural resources.