Mary Ayen Majok, the First Deputy Speaker of the Council of States. | Courtesy.

A lawmaker has called on the government to establish an Environmental Management Authority as an independent entity to conduct studies on the impact of the country’s extractive industry.

Hon. Mary Ayen, the Deputy Speaker of the Council of States, said the Environmental Management Authority was recommended in the Revitalized Peace Agreement

Ms. Ayen pointed out that the current structure, in which the Ministry of Petroleum acts as both regulator and operator of oil exploration activities, creates a conflict of interest.

The lawmaker said the Ministry of Petroleum cannot oversee an audit of its own operations.

“I see that for this process to be transparent and credible, it is supposed to be a separate independent entity to conduct the environmental audit,” Ayen said at the 4th High-Level Forum on Fiscal Devolution and Revenue Management in Juba.

“The Ministry of Petroleum is the regulator and the institution that carries out the oil exploration. So, for it to audit itself from seeing that it is not logical, at least they tried an effort that is supposed to be headed by a different situation.”

“The government needs to put more effort into the process. First of all, establishing maybe an environmental management authority is recommended in the Revitalized Peace Agreement.”

She said the body must be a separate entity independent from the Ministry of Environment.

Commenting on the reports of widespread pollution in the country’s oilfields, Ms. Ayen said an environmental audit process has already been completed.

She revealed that samples were collected, analyzed in a laboratory, and the report was finalized but that it is yet to be published by the Ministry of Petroleum.

Environmentalists say South Sudan experienced environmental damage, deforestation, soil and water contamination, and health issues in and around the oil-producing areas.

The civil war that started in 2013 – just two years after independence was seen to have prevented the proper management of the environment and the Ministry of Petroleum and oil companies came under increased criticism in the past over oil leakages.

Both local and international campaign groups have reported widespread environmental pollution, as chemicals from oil wells are said to have been washed to settlements by floodwaters, leaving animals and people affected.

Reports emerged of women giving birth to deformed babies and stillbirths, and were subsequently confirmed by indigenous community.

In 2015, German human rights and relief organization— Sign of Hope said the health of more than 180,000 people in northern Unity State was at risk due to drinking of water contaminated by the crude oil.

The study found that oil operations released 8.3 million tons of salt, 7.9 billion liters of well-drilling fluids including lead, nickel and cadmium, and 6 million liters of crude into South Sudan’s soil between 1999 and 2020.

The contaminants affected communities in the oil-producing regions severely, depriving them of their rights to clean water, health and life, according to the group.

In November 11, an environmentalist called on oil companies to ensure that communities living in Unity State and other oil-producing areas are protected from catastrophic pollution by isolating crude wastes from floodwater and rivers.

Thomas Gatdel Malou – a student of Master’s Degree in Environmental Science at the University of Nairobi – was reacting to a newly published BBC investigation which found that four years of flooding in Unity State has worsened oil pollution.

The documentary titled ‘Dying of thirst’ as climate-driven floods mix with oil‘ found that crude chemicals from flooded oil wells have spilt into water sources from people and animals get drinking water.

The situation has killed more than 100,000 cattle, leading to the displacement of over 700,000 people and has been blamed for widespread and irreparable birth defects, the investigation finds.