South Sudan, January 27, 2025- A new South Sudan Natural Resource Review (NRR) report released today by the World Bank reveals that South Sudan has abundant natural resources potential that can be sustainably exploited to promote inclusive economic development. The NRR report is the first to jointly assess three key renewable resources sectors in South Sudan-fisheries, forestry, and wildlife-since independence in 2011, and provides a comprehensive summary of the status, potentials, challenges, and investment needs in each of the sectors. The report highlights that South Sudan's natural habitats are vast, offering its sparse population a wealth of natural resources. But while approximately 75 percent of South Sudanese already rely directly on local ecosystems for essentials like food, clean water, and energy, these sectors have a far greater potential to contribute towards national development.
The report notes that fishing is key to the livelihoods of many and makes a huge contribution to overall nutrition and generates significant local government income. Roughly 2.1 million people are estimated to be members of households where at least one person is fishing, with around a quarter of a million active fishers, some 10 percent of whom are full time. The report outlined that the states with the most productive fisheries are Upper Nile, Jonglei, and Unity and the proportion of the population engaged in the sector reaches 30 percent or more.
The current fish catch according to the report is estimated at 300,000 tons per year and is likely significantly lower than average sustainable production, and much of its potential value of around $300 million at local market prices, roughly 70 percent is lost due to poor handling, postharvest physical and quality loss, and the inability to transport to regional markets dominated by foreign exporters, particularly to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where prices roughly double those in South Sudanese markets.
"South Sudan has one of the most productive freshwater fisheries in the world, driven by the highly variable annual flood dynamics of the vast Sudd and surrounding White Nile floodplain. To the southeast of the Sudd, those floodplains support the world's largest wildlife migration, estimated at over 5 million antelope. But alongside abundance, there have also been rapid declines. Large wildlife has declined around 90 percent across the country, following the proliferation of automatic weapons since the 1980s and high prices of ivory and rhino horn, and the largest teak plantations in Africa have almost vanished," said Stephen Ling, Lead Environment Specialist, World Bank. "And even though the floodplain fisheries are relatively robust to exploitation, much of the potential value is lost," added Ling.
In the forestry sector, the report highlights that South Sudan has extensive forest cover of around 30 percent of the national land area, and they have exceptionally high ecosystem integrity and may still contain commercially valuable native species which neighboring countries have largely lost.
In the wildlife sector, the report underlines that South Sudan retains vast and varied natural habitats with the potential to support world-class, nature-based tourism attractions but the two most globally important wildlife landscapes - the vast Sudd wetland and the world's largest wildlife migration in the Boma-Bandingilo-Jonglei landscape are only partly protected, and wildlife management is very limited throughout the country.
"South Sudan's remarkable natural assets have the potential to deliver major development benefits for its people. Managing these resources must be done wisely to maximize the benefits and ensure sustainability of these assets into the future. Community-based natural resources management and development of sustainable value chains offer important pathways to diversify away from dependence on oil while directly benefiting rural communities and supporting inclusive development in South Sudan," said Charles Undeland, World Bank Group Country Manager for South Sudan.
The report outlines the following potential benefits from investments in renewable resources sectors:
- Modest improvements in the management of the fisheries sector and reducing postharvest losses could potentially generate tens of millions of dollars per year in added value for South Sudan.
- Restoration of the teak plantation industry could generate close to $1 million per year and 150 jobs per 1,000 hectares on average. Close to a third of South Sudan has the potential for community forest management, which could potentially generate over $1 billion per year in sustainable revenue from nontimber forest products.
- Wildlife restoration and management could benefit South Sudan by tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. In the Boma-Badingilo-Jonglei landscape (BBJL) alone, well-managed harvesting of migratory antelope populations could provide for a sustainable annual offtake valued at around $61 million. Longer-term potential for nature-based tourism is vast, though there is a large agenda to enable this to occur.
