Environmental activist, Nyamach Hoth Mai during a talk-show at Eye Radio - CREDIT: Eye Radio/Moses Awan - October 27, 2022

An environmental activist has called on the government to relocate the population in the floods affected areas to higher ground.

Nyamach Hoth Mai told Eye Radio that cleaning and clearing are not going to solve the floods immediately.

The environmentalist pointed out that the first step now is to save a life by relocating these people and after that plan for the future.

She called on the national and state governments to relocate people from the affected areas to higher ground.

The statement of Nyamach came after the council of ministers approved the cleaning and clearing of rivers for smooth navigation in the country, saying this will only take place after proper studies have been conducted.

This came four-month after public outcry over the dredging of the Nile River by Egypt.

But Nyamach told Eye Radio that this is not a final solution for the issue of floods in the Upper Region.

“What we can do now is to tackle floods issues, the floods have been there, and people have been affected for the last years. The first step now to save a life, we first need to relocate these people [flood victims] and after that, we do whatever we want to do later,” said Nyamach.

“You cannot solve a problem where people are still in the water, they have been beaten by snakes and all that,

“I always say that climate issues have to be treated as emergencies as conflict issues. The state government and national government have to amicably relocate people from those affected areas to higher grounds, cleaning, and clearing is not going to solve it immediately.”

In July this year, President Salva Kiir ordered the suspension of all dredging-related activities until an environmental impact assessment is conducted.

The dredging project approved by the cabinet last year is targeting the Bahr el Ghazal-Naam river.

This came after environmental experts and academicians at the University of Juba called on the government to first carry out an environmental and social impact assessment before dredging the Nile tributaries.