A civil society activist has proposed establishment of a
commission on climate and allocation of a funds for climate change mitigation.
Wani Stephen, executive director of the Africa Democracy and
Resilience Network, expressed his concerns about the current environmental
challenges facing South Sudan, including heatwaves and flooding which he attributed
to global warming and poor environmental conservation practices.
“This year, what we are facing is one, the heat wave. That
heat wave comes as a result of global warming, which is not only affecting
South Sudan, but it affects South Sudan so hardly because one, the aspect of
environmental conservation in South Sudan is very poor in terms of having a
solid governance process of protecting, conserving our environment. If you look
at our trees have been cut, and that give us total depletion of our forest
cover,” said Wani.
The activist proposed the establishment of a presidential commission on climate change and a parliamentary committee on climate change.
These bodies, he believes, will guide, and direct the government and citizens
in terms of policies and lobbying for climate change.
“There must be a structure within the governance that address, that guides, that lobby when it comes to climate change. Maybe let's say the presidential commission on climate change that will guide and direct the president in terms of issues when it comes to policy of addressing climate change,” Wani advocates.
“With that, we’ll be able to enhance a very positive
advocacy towards climate change and we’ll be able to address the issue of
climate challenges, the issue of climate environmental insecurity in the
country.”
He emphasized the need for policies and legislations that
will guide the government and citizens on climate issues.
“For us to have policies, legislations that will govern,
that will guide the government, that will guide the citizen, that will guide
the private sector in terms of climate responsive policy, climate responsive
business model is critical,” he stated.
“If we don’t put those institutions in place, it will be
very difficult for the government to respond to related issues when it comes to
climate change. So, we need to have legal frameworks and legal policies that
will streamline government efforts towards climate change and that will give
budget allocations when it comes to financial and fiscal allocation.”
Wani called on the stakeholders to factor in mitigation of
climate change as a key priority in their operation.
“We need to start taking the issue of climate change,
climate mitigation, a serious issue, that become a life reckoning,” he said.
Currently in South Sudan, schools are shut down due to the heatwave,
with temperatures expected to range from 41 and 45 degrees Celsius in the next
two weeks.
The National Ministry of Health has reported that at least
15 children have died of meningitis and exposure to the heatwave.
