The Minister of Water Resources in South Sudan, Pal Mai Deng, has announced that over 2 million people have been displaced by floods in the country since 2020.
Speaking at the UN world water conference in New York on Friday, Mai said more than half of the country’s population had been affected by four consecutive flood events.
Mai noted that the percentage of people with access to safe drinking water sources had declined from 50 to 41 percent, adding that South Sudan had faced several challenges in the past decade, including climate change, internal conflicts, fragile institutions, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite these challenges, Mai expressed the government’s commitment to enhancing governance and institutional capacity to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.
He pledged to strengthen partnerships for communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, and international organizations.
The UN 2023 Water Conference focused on the midterm comprehensive review of the implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028).
Representatives from various parts of the world discussed the challenges facing countries in accessing clean water during the conference.
