Khartoum, 29
June 2010 - Over the next two weeks, 500,000
trees will be planted around the city of
Juba, in South Sudan, as part of the Keep
Juba Green campaign launched by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Keep Juba Green is part
of a UN commitment to plant one million
trees across Southern Sudan in 2010 and
2011, being jointly implemented by the Ministry
of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment,
the Directorate of Forestry of Central Equatoria
State and UNEP.
Supported by the UK
Department of International Development
(DFID) and the Government of Italy, the
campaign aims to engage community groups,
schools and organizations in the planting
of 23 different tree species in an effort
to draw attention to the need for reforestation
and improved forest management in South
Sudan.
Southern Sudan is estimated
to have lost 40 percent of its forests since
Sudan gained independence in 1956. A 2007
UNEP Post-Conflict Assessment of Sudan found
that deforestation was principally driven
by energy needs, for firewood and charcoal,
as well as land clearing to meet agricultural
and local construction needs.
The Vice President of
Southern Sudan, Riek Machar, planted the
campaign's first tree, a mango seedling,
and urged others to get involved in working
for a more sustainable future.
UNEP's Sudan Programme
Manager, Robin Bovey, said the tree planting
effort would not be possible without the
government's determination to encourage
the wise use of natural resources.
"There's still
a vast amount of work to do to ensure development
in the south proceeds in an environmentally
sensitive and sustainable way which will
in turn ensure livelihoods and public health
in the years to come," Mr Bovey said.
Two decades of devastating
civil war ended in January 2005 when a Comprehensive
Peace Agreement was signed between the Sudanese
central government in Khartoum and the Sudan
People's Liberation Army in the South.
As it focuses on recovery
and development, the country faces key environmental
challenges such as land degradation, deforestation
and the impacts of climate change. Adequate
management and rehabilitation of natural
resources are fundamental prerequisites
to peacebuilding in Sudan.
Through its Disasters
and Conflicts Programme, UNEP's activities
in Sudan focus on addressing the links between
environmental pressures and conflict through
capacity-building and more effective natural
resource management, primarily water and
forestry, to help build community resilience,
address poverty issues and support peacebuilding.
With UNEP's support,
the Ministry of Environment completed the
South Sudan Environmental Policy 2010 as
well as the 2010 South Sudan Environment
Act which will be reviewed during a UNEP-sponsored
stakeholder workshop in August.
