UN system staff college hails UNMISS for integrating climate change agenda

By Simon Deng

The head of peace and security hub for the United Nations System Staff College in Turin, Italy, Svenja Korth on Tuesday praised the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for integrating climate change agenda within it’s mandate in the country.

“First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to UNMISS for their unwavering commitment and tireless effort in addressing the critical issues of climate, peace and security in South Sudan,” said Korth during the opening of the three-day training workshop on climate, peace and security at Pyramid Hotel in Juba.

She said that UNMISS is one of the first UN peacekeeping missions to integrate climate, peace and security analysis, which is a vital component mandated by the Security Council.

 Korth said that the integration of these three things is fundamental in supporting the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General, in advancing the peace process in South Sudan.

The three-day symposium on climate, peace and security is being attended by government representatives, the UN family, academia, international non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations.

Korth said UNMISS collaboration with UN entities, the South Sudan government and the civil society organization has paved the way for meaningful progress, adding that South Sudan needs the necessary tools to conduct climate risk analysis and integrate climate, peace and security consideration into peace building efforts.

“The urgency of addressing climate change cannot be overstated, South Sudan is already grappling with numerous challenges and in particular vulnerable to recurring flooding, leading to displacement, loss of livelihood and food insecurity,” said Korth.

Jackline Dero, the Civil Affairs officer for UNMISS, said the issue of climate, peace and security requires collaborations, adding that  climate, peace and security must be integrated in daily work.

“When we talk about climate, peace and security, it is an issue that requires a multi-disciplinary approach and so collaboration and nexus building are quite key,” said Dero.

“We have seen conversation both at Transitional National Legislative Assembly level, we have seen conversation from the state, where issues of climate change and their impact are posing challenges to the officials and communities there to deal with,” she added.

Dero revealed that the most recent debate on climate change was the 7^th annual governors’ forum, where the issues of climate change, peace and security were quite dominant in the conversation.

“As we strengthen nexus and as we mainstream climate, peace and security in the work that we all do the issues around climate, peace and security requires that we are all involved, there are issues that we have to look at collectively,” she said.

Lutana Musa, the Director General for Climate Change in the National Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said the government is committed to address climate related risks.

“The government is committed in addressing climate related risks, we have the environment policy, forest policy, and national adaptation plan, we actually use to address issues of climate change and of course not leaving out peace and security,” said Musa.

“We also acknowledge the relevance of the sustainable development goals in solving the issues of climate, peace and security. There are goals for climate action, security, hunger and water and South Sudan is not exceptional in putting sustainable development goals into actions,” he added.