By Yiep Joseph
Despite repeated government bans, illegal logging continues to ravage several parts of South Sudan.
Massive illegal logging is still continuing in Central Equatoria (Lainya, Morobo, Kajo-Keji, Yei River), Eastern Equatoria (Magwi), and Western Equatoria.
Earlier this week, the community of Kajo-Keji reported a resurgence of illegal logging operations. Local authorities confirmed that loggers have returned to the area, felling trees without the necessary permits from either the county or state government.
This rampant illegal logging not only devastates the environment but reduces rainfall, negatively impacting agricultural production and livelihoods.
To curb this destructive practice, Minister for Environment and Forestry Josephine Napwon on Monday issued an order prohibiting all state governments from issuing logging permits.
Napwon also emphasized the need for a comprehensive Forestry Bill to effectively address illegal logging.
However, Joseph Africano Bartel, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, acknowledged several challenges hindering the ministry’s efforts to combat illegal logging.
Insecurity
He revealed that since the outbreak of conflict in South Sudan, many armed groups emerged, making it hard for forest officers to visit the site due to fear.
“You know foresters are supposed to be in the forest to manage forest, and it is not a secret that we still have some groups carrying arms in the areas, and those areas are not safe for foresters to operate in,” he said.
He acknowledged that during peace time, officers from the Directorate of Forestry do visit forests and were able to enforce the law.
“During peace, you will not see any forester in the town, they are in the forest, By then a forest ranger carries an axe and a stick, but now how can we take a forest ranger guard in our situation to go and guard the forests with people with AK-47,” he said.
As the government continues with peace implementation, the undersecretary expressed hope that total peace will ease enforcement of environmental policies.
“One thing for us to be able to control and manage our forest is the peace we need peace and then we able to deploy forest officers to enforce they law,” he said.
Undersecretary Africano claimed continuous reports of illegal logging in some parts of the country involving state leaders with some other unnamed groups.
“Now what (illegal logging) we have in Kajo-Keji County is the commissioner, and some people who are part of the government dealing in that” he said.
He revealed that the illegal logging in some parts of South Sudan is engineered by communities who claimed that the land belongs to them.
Africano expressed that some of the community’s incoordination with county leaders allowed investors to carry out logging with the exchange of services like roads, etc.
“What is happening, is that communities are claiming an area as theirs, and they get these investors that come to them and simply say, ‘We want a school;’ and cuts either 10 trees,” he said.
He added that due to such involvement of the community and the county leaders, the bans cannot be implemented as expected.
Africano revealed that South Sudan, being rich in teak and other valuable trees for timbers, the neighbouring countries continue to benefit from the illegal logging as they receive and rebrand the products.
“What is happening now in Western Equatoria, Central Equatoria, and Eastern Equatoria is that our logs are being logged illegally, taken to Uganda, then Uganda will now certify them as their products, then they send them to either India or elsewhere,” he said.
The undersecretary revealed that the South Sudanese government and the Ministry of Environment in particular continue to engage the Ugandan government to help in curbing illegal logging.
He encourages Uganda to stop logs or other timber with no certificate of origin, adding that such a move will discourage illegal logging.
“We need to have an agreement with Uganda to ensure that logs enter with a certificate of origin,” he said.
“We know illegal logging is happening in Eastern Equatoria, in Western Equatoria, and in Western Bahr el Ghazal,” he said.
Reacting to recent orders banning logging across the country, Ter Manyang, Executive Director of the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), expressed that reinforcing the ban on illegal logging will not be effective unless a robust legal framework is implemented to impose penalties on those involved in the practice.
“The Ministry of Environment’s efforts to close down illegal logging businesses in the country will not be successful unless there is a proper law in place that can enforce restrictions,” Manyang said.
He urged the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to conduct thorough feasibility studies before implementing any decisions related to illegal logging.
“I call on the honorable minister to consider conducting feasibility studies, as there are various layers to this issue,” Manyang emphasized. “This includes both South Sudanese nationals and foreigners, with local citizens often collaborating with foreign actors to facilitate the illegal logging trade.”
The Equatoria region has been blessed with the forests and valuable hardwood needed in the whole world for wood carving, furniture, and shipbuilding.
Sources revealed that much of the world’s teak came from South Sudan, as its trees, planted in the 1940s by British colonists, reached maturity.