Government to draft environment bill to mitigate pollution

The national Ministry of Environment and Forestry said it is drafting a new bill on waste management and protection of the environment to reverse impacts of pollution across the country.

 Joseph African Bartel, the Undersecretary for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said they have been lacking law regulating waste management and protection of the environment despite having environmental policy in place for years.

“We have environment policy, what we have been missing is environmental bill but in the next six  months, we will have that bill and that simply means we will be able to reverse the impact of pollution that we have,” Bartel said in an interview in Juba on Saturday.

 Bartel said the environmental bill in the offing will set long- term targets in the areas of air quality, biodiversity, water and resources efficiency and waste management.

He said the ongoing environmental audit approved last year will hold companies suspected of contaminating the environment accountable.

“We are now conducting environmental audit and the report will come out soon, all companies that have polluted our environment will be held accountable and they will be able to make sure that they compensate everybody who has been affected,” Bartel said.

He emphasized the need for behavioral change among the public on waste management.

In 2015, South Sudan endorsed a 10- year National Environment Policy that seeks to develop laws, regulations and guidelines to ensure protection, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources across the country.