What are the effects of climate change on our livelihoods?

Well, Scientists across the world consider Global warming and climate change issues as perhaps the greatest threat to this planet.

And as the youngest and one of the least developed countries in the world, South Sudan faces several development challenges due to decades of political instability, poverty and persistent food insecurity, all of which are believed to be aggravated by climate change.(now here is the explanation)

It’s evident that despite South Sudan having one of the richest agricultural areas in Africa with fertile soils and abundant water – frequent flooding, droughts, ongoing conflict and the displacement of millions of people have drastically reduced food production as most of the production is rain – fed and therefore dependent on seasonal rains for optimal crop performance, to the point where millions of people are currently considered food insecure. A report released by US AID in 2016 indicates that this is all due to climate change.

The Livestock in the country which is estimated at about 38million by the  USAID report is as well raised in a variety of production systems, including pastoralism, which depends on access to grazing land and watering points.

As a result, Climate change has thus worsened existing tensions over land use among and between farmers and pastoralists as they compete for increasingly scarce resources. For example, pastoralists have changed their migration patterns in search of water and fodder, thus coming into contact with existing agricultural lands and other pastoralists.

Meanwhile, farmers are expanding agricultural land to areas previously used as seasonal pasture to cope with declining yields and soil quality.

These in recent months have caused misunderstandings among cattle keeping communities and farmers from different parts of the country due to disputes over grazing land, water points and destruction of farmlands by cattle.

So in this interview, we have an overview of climate risk issues in South Sudan, including how climate change has affected agriculture and pastoralism, water resources and ecosystems.

How we can cope with these climatic changes without having disputes amongst ourselves?

Well, Nhial Tiitmamer, a researcher on environmental issues at the Sudd Institute, shares with Rosemary visible evidence of climate change in South Sudan: