15 September 2010 - The newly created Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Ministry of Environment hosted a two-day public consultative workshop for stakeholders to review the Environmental Policy and Protection Bill 2010.

The 130 participants, who were drawn from various GoSS ministries and offices, are expected to make recommendations on the bill before it is tabled in the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly.

Opening the workshop, the GoSS Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny congratulated the new ministry for coming up with the draft bill in a timely fashion and for organising a forum to seek the views of stakeholders.

The bill is envisioned as the legislative expression of the Southern Sudan National Environmental Policy that would ensure the protection and conservation of Southern Sudan's environment and sustainable management of its renewable natural resources.

Some of the key sectors it would regulate include fisheries, forestry, wildlife and tourism, agriculture, livestock, oil, industry and trade, energy and mining, transport and roads, human settlement, health, water supply and sanitation.

The vice president said that environment protection should be included in the Southern Sudanese education curriculum in order to instruct schoolchildren on the importance of environmental protection.

The GoSS Minister for Environment Isaac Awan Maper acknowledged that government efforts to protect the environment have fallen short in the last five years.

Once passed into law, the bill will cement the commitment of the GoSS to safeguard the environment at the national, state, payam and boma levels, Minister Awan said.

"To ensure sound management of the environment, the Southern Sudan National Environment Policy suggests creation of a new institution called the Southern Sudan Environmental Management Agency," said the minister, who described the proposed agency as a policy-making and coordination body.