Minister of Environment and Forestry Josephine Napwon (middle/dark suits), Western Bahr el Ghazal Governor Sarah Cleto (blue shirt) and other officials pose for a picture at a teak plantation area in Wau. | Photo: Sarah Cleto Office.

The Economic Cluster on Wednesday passed a proposal to rehabilitate about 14 Teak Forest plantations in four states of the country.

The initiative was presented by Environment Minister Josephine Napwon at the cluster meeting chaired by Finance Minister Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol on behalf of the head, Vice President Dr. James Wani Igga.

The project which aims to revive the 14 forsaken plantations will be implemented in three states of the Equatoria region and Western Bhar el Ghazal state.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security said the Cluster urged the Ministry of Environment to revoke the contract awarded to some companies illegally cutting trees.

Lily Albino Akol said the cluster also directed the Minister of Environment to secure the forests by deploying rangers that will disband loggers.

“The proposal endures, and it will be presented to the cabinet for final approval,” Lily Akol said, while reading out a statement to state-owned television SSBC.

“The Economic cluster also urged the Ministry of Environment to find a way to revoke all illegal contract awarded to some companies to cut trees and enforce forest force to protect the trees.”

“Also, the Ministry of Environment proposed to establish of 13 nursery centers for germinating trees in the ten states and the three administrative area.”

Illegal and unsustainable logging still prevails in South Sudan’s heavily wooded areas bordering Northern Uganda and DR Congo, amid warnings the practice will have a catastrophic climate impact in the region.

The practice is common in Central Equatoria, Western Equatoria and parts of Eastern Equatoria states.

Environmentalists say timber companies in South Sudan are taking advantage of the years of conflicts to extract large amounts of wood, leading to the spontaneous disappearance of teak forests, planted nearly a century ago.

In 2019, the Washington-based research group, C4ADS, examined trade data to document the export of around 100,000 tons of South Sudanese teak from January 2018 to March 2019.

It found that corruption and a poorly regulated logging trade mean that the government, the military, and other armed groups are skimming profits off South Sudan’s portion of the global teak trade, which is worth more than $500 million dollars annually.