UNEP waste management project in Southern Sudan

< Sudan

The project is part of a £20 million UK-funded programme to improve the sustainable use of natural resources in Sudan, to be carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) over the next three years.

On 23 November 2009, Juba Clean-Up will mobilize 16,000 volunteers to tackle the growing health hazard caused by public dumping of waste in the metropolitan area.

With the rapid growth of the city and the absence of a sustainable waste management system, the people of Juba have endured repeated fatal outbreaks of cholera, waterborne diseases and malaria.

The clean-up, which will be replicated in the nine states of Southern Sudan, will be coupled with a sustained awareness-raising campaign to encourage the citizens of Juba to adopt an environmentally friendly attitude towards the disposal of waste in the city.

The initiative forms part of country-wide environmental programme implemented by UNEP to assist the people of Sudan to achieve sustainable peace, recovery and development by improving the management of natural resources.

In addition to the waste management project, the recently established UNEP office in Juba will provide technical support to the Government to manage its forests and other valuable natural resources in a sustainable manner, and work to build the capacity of Government ministries to address environmental issues affecting Southern Sudan and implement the 24 recommendations of UNEP's Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment, published in June 2007.

The Sudan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment report includes assessments of water, agriculture, forests, desertification and natural disasters, wildlife, the marine environment, industrial pollution, the urban environment, environmental governance and the role of environmental pressures in Sudan's conflicts. The report makes 85 recommendations and outlines a detailed government action plan with a total estimated national cost of US$120 million over three to five years. The assessment and recommendations form the basis of UNEP's continuing engagement in Sudan.

With funding from DFID and USAID, UNEP established an office in Khartoum in November 2007 to follow through the recommendations and support delivery of the environmental elements of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreements and other national priorities.

During the period 2007-2009, three projects were implemented in Darfur: the Darfur Timber and Energy, the Integrated Water Resources Management, and the Aid and Environment Projects.

The new phase of the programme, which is supported by a £20 million grant from DFID over three years, marks the expansion of the programme and the establishment of project offices in Juba and in El Fasher, in Darfur.

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