By africanews
South Sudan is trying to rebuild its six national parks and 13 game reserves, which cover more than 13% of the country’s terrain, following the five-year civil war that ended last year after killing nearly 400,000 people. A fragile peace deal still has key steps to carry out.
The fighting stripped the country of much wildlife and the parks are rudimentary, lacking lodges, visitors’ centers and roads. There is no significant tourism; the parks department does not even keep statistics on the number of visitors.
“Given these challenges, the biodiversity of South Sudan is in peril,” said DeeAnn Reeder, a conservationist and professor at Bucknell University who has done research there. She called conservation efforts “significant but relatively small in scale given the vastness of the country” that still has the potential for surprise. The documentation of forest elephants in South Sudan was a “very significant find.”
That biodiversity remains rich with more than 300 mammal species, including 11 primates. The country boasts one of Africa’s greatest annual antelope migrations.
Now the biggest threat to the country’s wildlife is poaching, the scourge that afflicts parks and reserves across Africa…Read more>>
