| Overview : South Sudan contains one of the largest untouched savanna and woodland ecosystems remaining in Africa as well as the Sudd, the largest wetland in Africa, of inestimable value to the flow of the River Nile. The 2007-2010 aerial surveys conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism of the Government of Southern Sudan revealed: - One of the largest, intact antelope migrations in the world comprising 1.2 million White-eared kob, Mongalla gazelle and tiang, which rivals the world-famous Serengeti wildebeest migration
- Around 4,000 elephants and viable populations of other large bodied species such as giraffe, buffalo and the endemic Nile lechwe
- Large carnivore species such as lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog still exist
- However, species have been decimated by poaching during the civil war (e.g. zebra, hartebeest and buffalo) and are at risk of local extirpation unless effective protection can be quickly mobilized.
- Rhino have not been detected but local reports suggest that there may still be hope that this species persists.
These valuable national and global assets are threatened by escalating commercial poaching linked to the proliferation of firearms, conflict-linked displacements, competition for scarce natural resources (graze and water) and the presence of extractive industries exploring for oil and other valuable minerals. the root causes of those threats and the barriers to a long-term solution were described in the project document. These can be briefly summarised as including the following threats and root causes: i) a lack of integration of conservation in development planning; ii) conflict over natural resources; and iii) direct pressures on natural resources, including killings of wildlife In the face of these threats, protected areas provide the cornerstone for a broader strategy embedding conservation in the landscape. There are currently six national parks and 13 game reserves legally created in South Sudan, covering 11.1% of the land area (90,755 km²), but the limited protected area human, physical, institutional and systemic infrastructure was largely destroyed during the civil war. Moreover, most of these protected areas, while created on paper, never underwent a consultation process with local stakeholders and protected area boundaries were never demarcated. Other constraints preventing the effective management of protected areas are inadequate enabling policy and capacity for wildlife management at the operational and administrative levels. The ideal, long term solution for protected areas management in Southern Sudan would be “An ecologically representative and connected network of protected areas, subject to efficient management arrangements for the situation of Southern Sudan and adequately financed through multiple sources”. This proposes of the Protected Area Network Management and Building Capacity in Post-Conflict Southern Sudan project to contribute to the ideal long term solution by laying the foundations for effective protected areas management firstly, reassessing the present protected area estate to ensure the identification of key migratory routes and wildlife corridors within the protected area network and secondly, building the capacity of the Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism to effectively manage and sustainably develop Southern Sudan’s key protected areas. To achieve this, the project will undertake a range of activities to deliver the following three outcomes: Capacity for protected area management strengthened Management of four key protected areas improved (i.e. Southern, Bandingalo and Boma National Parks and Zeraf Reserve) Sustainable financing of protected areas designed and enhanced.
The expected benefits of the project are the expansion of the protected area network of Southern Sudan by 350,000 ha and 6,800,000 ha of PA under improved management. Specifically, this will mean: Improving the overall protected area institutional capacity, from a baseline of 42, 39, 32 % to 52, 50, 43 % for institutional, systemic and individual capacity scores respectively Increasing management effectiveness at the protected area level, from a management effectiveness tracking tools baseline of 25% to greater than 40% at Bandigalo, Southern and Zeraf and from 41% to greater than 50% at Boma and aligning the protected areas to IUCN category II and VI Increasing the financial sustainability of the protected area network, from a financial sustainability baseline score of 5% to 20%. In the long-term, poaching and illegal use of wildlife will be contained and gradually reduced as protected area management becomes more effective; community wildlife partnerships will reduce pressures and increase awareness. Moreover, implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity objectives will be realized through the creation, enlargement and management of protected areas, the involvement of rural communities, the sustainable use of natural resources and the integration of wildlife into land-use planning and development.
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