Water Minister Pal Mai (center) addresses a panel discussion at COP29 in Baku. November 12, 2024. (Photo: Courtesy).

South Sudan’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation has reiterated calls on developed nations to support nations at the frontline of climate change crisis including his country, during a panel discussion at the COP29.

Pal Mai Deng made the appeal during a panel discussion organized by World Bank and UN agencies on “Making Climate Finance Work for Climate Action in Agriculture and Food Security” at the sidelines of the ongoing UN climate conference.

South Sudan is ranked as the second most vulnerable country globally to the impacts of natural hazards, including droughts and flooding, and among the top five countries most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, according to the 2023 INFORM Risk Index.

Since May 2024, floods have affected more than 1.4 million people across South Sudan, with livelihoods including farmlands and livestock wiped out, and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

Minister Mai pointed out that climate change has presented an existential threat to humanity while suggesting the need to move a way from climate debates and discussions to action.

According to him, countries like South Sudan have huge potential for carbon trading – a system which allow a country to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.

“The developed nations need to put aside their difference on who pollute to what extent and then come together to fulfill their financial obligations to help the developing countries cope with the climate crisis,” he told the panel.

“This is by enabling their resilience to adapt to adverse impacts of climate change while having the obligation to reduce carbon emission.”

About 40,000 to 50,000 delegates around the World are taking part in this years annual UN climate meeting in the Azerbaijan capital Baku to adopt action to help address the rising global temperatures.

The global leaders, experts and civil society delegates are also discussing ways to mobilize resources to help poor countries curb the planet-warming gases, and to cope with the growing impacts of climate change.

But the world’s biggest polluters and strongest economies — China, United States, India and Indonesia have not send their leaders to Baku in what has been termed a symptomatic lack of political will to act.