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South Sudan risks becoming a desert due to deforestation
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
May 29th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
May 29th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Suffering through several decades of war, the African nation of South
Sudan has neglected its natural resources, in particular its forests and
greenery. Isaac Woja, an agriculturalist and natural resources
management expert says this of high concern. "The rate at which people
are cutting trees is worrying. If this trend continues future
generations are going to suffer. South Sudan may become a desert like
what you see in the north," he told IPS.
Years of unchecked war, coupled with the post independence challenges and tension with its neighbor Sudan have resulted in environmental degradation here.
According to 2009 figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, forests and woodlands cover an estimated 29 percent of the land area in South Sudan. The country's rapid deforestation is being partially led by the country's inability to provide rural and urban populations with access to reliable electricity.
Nearly 99 percent of South Sudan's eight million people use firewood or charcoal as their main source of energy. For many South Sudanese, charcoal is the cheapest source of energy and is likely to remain the primary energy source unless radical steps are taken to introduce alternative forms of energy.
In the absence of alternative energy sources, charcoal burning is impossible to ban, Director of Forestry in Central Equatorial State Gideon Samuel says.
"We are finding it a very difficult thing to control. So we think if an alternative is was found to replace charcoal as a source of energy, I think that would be good for us," he said.
South Sudan has a number of laws regulating the use and production of charcoal. One of which was that charcoal could only be produced from trees that were felled when clearing land for agriculture. However, there were not enough resources to police this.
Samuel said his directorate has no capacity to control the illegal fellers. "The restriction has not even taken impact because when someone is in need, they do whatever they want. And our capacity as forestry officials is very low because we have few forest guards to control feeling of trees for charcoal production," Samuel says.
Adding literal fuel to the fire is the fact that many villagers are turning to charcoal burning to earn a living.
A local farmer in Juba county who started making charcoal a couple of years ago, said his workers cut more than 100 trees a week to be able to produce at least 50 bags of charcoal.
"I have six children. I'm trying to survive and feed my children here. There are no jobs. What am I supposed to do?" he asked.
A version of this story was first published by Inter Press Service news agency.
© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.