South Sudan’s Ministry of Environment has revealed plans to launch an environmental policy for the management and restoration of the Sudd wetlands and other wetlands in the country.
Speaking to journalists while commemorating World Wetlands Day in Juba on Wednesday, South Sudan’s Minister of Environment Josephine Napwon Cosmos said the Sudd and other wetlands must be protected.
“It is urgent that we raise national and global awareness about wetlands in order to reverse their rapid loss and encourage actions to conserve and restore them. World Wetlands Day is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these critically important ecosystems,” Minister Napwon said.
The Ministry of Environment Undersecretary Joseph Africano Batal said the Sudd is in danger of oil pollution due to exploration and water lilies or water hyacinth have also continued to make navigation in the wetlands difficult.
He acknowledged that there are no protection and management policies for the Sudd and other wetlands across the country.
“On the management of the wetlands in the country, and how the wetlands are contributing towards the fight against climate change, all of you should know that the ministry of environment has developed a nationally determined contribution for combating climate change and that document will be launched in two weeks,” Joseph Africano Bartal, the Under Secretary Ministry of Environment declared.
The Sudd is Africa’s largest wetlands.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Sudd wetlands are inhabited by over 1 million people coming from Shilluk, Anyuak, Nuer, and Dinka communities in the Greater Upper Nile Region.
The SUDD wetland has an estimated area of 57,000 square kilometers representing one of the largest fresh ecosystems in the world.
The ministry says the extent of the SUDD wetlands depends largely on seasons and years respectively. The wetlands size increases to 90,000 square kilometers during the rainy seasons and gradually decreases to 42,000 square kilometers depending on seasonal floods according to the ministry’s officials.
In August 2021, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 75/17 that established 2nd February as World Wetlands Day.
Today’s World’s Wetlands Day is commemorated under the theme: “Wetlands Action for People and Nature.”