A bulldozer digs drainage channels in Aweil, NBGs. 8th February 2025. (-)

Northern Bahr el Ghazal government has started digging drainage channels in Aweil and other towns to reduce risk of climate change-linked seasonal floods which have submerged much of the state for years.

Governor Simon Ober Mawut pledged his government’s commitment to mobilize resources to ensure that local populations do not face similar fate in the coming rainy season.

He said the drainage system is aimed to reduce the risk of flooding by opening waterways and building dykes to prevent floodwaters from inundating residential areas and vital infrastructure.

He appealed to development partners and well-wishers to “join hands with the state government in accomplishing this noble cause.”

“Certainly, we can accomplish this objective if we pull our collective ideas and resources together, and there is no doubt that we shall succeed in this endeavor.”

He said the seasonal floods that have tormented the state since 2019 have left populations in considerable loss of livestock, crops and homes.

Governor Mawut said he is aware that many people in the state are currently struggling to make ends meet due to vulnerability resulting from the catastrophic flooding.

“Many citizens are struggling to meet the daily needs of their families. I urge our citizens to exercise little patience while we find practical and sustainable solutions to what is clearly a recurring challenge.”

South Sudan is 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 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.

In December 2023, President Salva Kiir said climate change factors have negatively affected peace and security in South Sudan while addressing the UN Climate Change conference in the United Arab Emirates.

Kiir told world leaders gathered in Dubai, that his underdeveloped country, which accounts for little to no carbon emission, is bearing the brunt of climate disasters.

He said four years of floods and droughts conditions that have affected swathes of territories in South Sudan’s north and east, wiped out livelihoods and forced communities to fight over scarce resource.