The South Sudanese National Minister of Environment and Forestry Josephine Napwon Cosmos, United Nations Food Agriculture Organization has approved a Global Environment facility (GEF) at a tune of Ten Million United States dollars (USD 10,000,000) to be implemented jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of South Sudan (MoEF).
The project titled: “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Enhancement for South Sudan” shortened CARES was selected for funding in February 2024 under GEF-8 latest work program of the Least developed Country Fund (LDCF) under the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project will promote climate adaptation in the broader Agro-sylvo-pastoral value chain development opportunities through investments in nature-based solutions, integrated land use planning, and climate information services. It will include focused engagement with farmers and pastoralists in the green belt, Hills and mountains and ironstone plateau zones covering some states in Equatoria, Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal which will further be redefined in the inception and consultations phases of the project development.
Josephine Napwon Cosmos, said this project came at a very critical moment when the different components of the Environment in South Sudan are undergoing serious threats and environmental degradation, deforestation, poaching, climate change impacts to mention just a few. This project will contribute towards promoting social equity, enhancing livelihoods, and reducing vulnerabilities in alignment with South Sudan’s Climate Change response strategies as spelled out in National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA), 2016 and Second National Determined Contribution (2nd NDC), 2020, the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), 2020 and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP, 2018.
Through the CARES project, adaptation approaches and activities will be designed in such a way that synergies are leveraged and amplified with existing GEF projects and other donor funded projects for effective and efficient adaptation efforts in the country. This is not a matter of a single agency or institution as you know environment is cross-cutting and we need to use a whole of government and society approach to address the menace of climate change together.
Meshak Malo,FAO Country Director said that this milestone would not have been possible without the technical support of the UNFAO and able team in Rome and Juba, the Project vehicle you handed over to the Ministry today will be utilized to support the team in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and the leadership of the Ministry will avail the project team all the necessary support to bring this project development phase to a successful conclusion and have the full project proposal and its annexes approved by GEF council for implementation before the end of 2024.
“I am looking forward to a collective and productive collaborative team work between UNFAO and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to allow us move forward in achieving our vision as a country and attain the sustainable development goals specifically Goal 13 on Climate Action,”
