Africa-Press – South-Sudan. At least 2 million people have been displaced by the floods in South Sudan since the onset of the flooding in the country in 2020, said the Minister of Water Resources, Pal Mai Deng.
He was speaking during the UN world water conference in New York on Friday.
The conference which brought together representatives from different parts of the world discussed the challenges facing countries in accessing clean water.
In a statement seen by The City Review, Mai said at least 2 million people have been displaced and more than half of the country’s population is affected by four consecutive flood events.
Mai said the current reports indicate that the percentage of people having access to safe drinking water sources has declined from 50 to 41 percent.
“Within the first two years, we managed to reach 50 percent of our people with safe drinking water and provide 10 percent of the population with improved sanitation services,” he said.
He said South Sudan has been facing several challenges over the past 10 years, including climate change, internal conflicts, fragile institutions, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the face of these challenges, Mai stated that the government’s, international partners’, and communities’ capacity and resources have been stretched.
However, he noted that despite all these challenges, the world has stood with the government to provide the citizens with the required humanitarian support.
He confirmed that the government of South Sudan was focusing on enhancing governance and institutional capacity to enable the environment to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.
“Currently, we (the government) are revising our water policy and the water bill to incorporate emerging water-related challenges, in particular climate change, as well as transboundary water issues,” he said.
He assured the delegates of the government’s commitment to cooperating with the countries within the water basin to ensure sustainable management and reasonable utilization of the resources of the Nile while protecting its ecosystems that are vital for the survival of our people.
Pal pledged to strengthen partnerships for communities, civil society organizations, the private sector and international organizations.
The UN 2023 Water Conference focused on the midterm comprehensive review of the implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028).
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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