By Kei Emmanuel Duku<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A senior policy analyst and civil society activist is urging the South Sudan government to prioritize community-driven smart agriculture initiatives and reforestation efforts as a measure to reduce the country\u2019s carbon footprint.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Boboya James emphasized the need for incentives to encourage tree planting and maintain a green environment.<\/p>\n South Sudan’s recently updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) aims to reduce 109.87 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and sequester 45.06 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030.<\/p>\n This will be achieved through mitigation and adaptation measures to reduce emissions and address climate change impacts.<\/p>\n James argues that smart agricultural practices, such as intercropping, agroforestry, reforestation, and afforestation, help absorb atmospheric CO2, thus reducing carbon emissions.<\/p>\n Given that 95% of South Sudan’s population relies on natural resources for livelihood and charcoal for cooking, James urged the government to lower taxes on clean energy imports to attract private investment.<\/p>\n “Instead of importing fossil fuels and generators, most investors should be importing solar panels\/systems. We need immediate, medium, and long-term strategies to achieve clean energy and reduce our carbon footprint,” James stated.<\/p>\n As an oil and gas-producing country, South Sudan can also reduce carbon emissions by investing in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), making gas cylinders more accessible to communities through reduced import taxes.<\/p>\n James suggests that making gas cylinders affordable, between 50,000 and 100,000 South Sudanese Pounds, would encourage widespread adoption.<\/p>\n “With our consumption patterns in South Sudan, where bread consumption is high, gas cooking is a viable alternative. A single gas cylinder can last nearly three months and is cleaner than charcoal,” he explained.<\/p>\n He also called for the enactment of environmental protection and conservation laws, including penalties for charcoal production.<\/p>\n James highlighted the construction boom in Juba City as a major driver of deforestation, due to uncontrolled logging. He stressed the need for stricter environmental laws to protect wetlands and forests.<\/p>\n South Sudan has yet to table its Environmental Bill before parliament for enactment.<\/p>\n The civil society activist noted that South Sudan has faced numerous humanitarian crises, including floods, droughts, and recent heatwaves.<\/p>\n These climatic disasters have led to displacement, disrupted livelihoods, and significantly impacted human security over the past four to six years.<\/p>\n James emphasized the importance of increasing national budget allocations for climate financing and disaster management.<\/p>\n “Allocating 1.5% of the national budget to climate financing, coupled with strengthened institutional capacity and regular budget monitoring, can create better conditions,” James concluded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kei Emmanuel Duku A senior policy analyst and civil society activist is urging the South Sudan government to prioritize community-driven smart agriculture initiatives and reforestation efforts as a measure to reduce the country\u2019s carbon footprint.\u00a0 Boboya James emphasized the need for incentives to encourage tree planting and maintain[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34163,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34161\/revisions\/34163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}