Josephine Napwon, the Minister of Environment and Forestry, and VP Wani Igga during the launch of computerized greenhouse monitoring system at the ministry complex in Juba - credit: MoEF - July 15, 2021

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has launched computerized monitoring, reporting, and verification system to track greenhouse gas and carbon emissions in the country.

The five-year project shall include capacity building of the Ministry and the local communities on adaptation to climate change.

The system will also enable the ministry and other stakeholders to collect data on climatic conditions and help forecast rainfall patterns.

According to the Minister of Environment and Forestry, the system will help South Sudan capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert it into monitory values.

“For South Sudan to estimate its carbon emissions, the ministry has established greenhouse gases reporting and verification office within the ministry. This system will be used to calculate the greenhouse gas, emission of the country, and carbon sequestration of our forest,” Minister Josephine Napwon explains.

“This system is crucial for South Sudan to partake in the carbon trade. The first of this project is the cross-cutting capacity building to implement the three pillars of the Rio convention.”

This 9 million US dollars project is funded by the United Nations Development Programme.

UNDP’s Resident Representative, Samuel Deo hopes that the funding will also help boost efforts to mitigate the continuous deforestation and improve South Sudan Vulnerability to climate change.

“Unfortunately, we still have two percent of South Sudan forest being lost every year. 2% is among the fastest deforestation globally,” said UNDP’s Resident Representative.

“We are optimistic that all of us can move upward from being the 8th most vulnerable to coming to be amongst the most resilient among countries to climate effects.”

Through this project, officials hope South Sudan can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.