FAO and EU donate two motorbikes to Abyei authorities to enhance participatory natural resource management
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) donated two motorbikes to the Chief Administrator in Abyei to enhance the capacity to manage disputes over natural resources in the Abyei box. This initiative contributes to ongoing efforts towards improving natural resource management in border areas of South Sudan, which is in line with one of the main pillars of the project “Strengthening the livelihoods resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in South Sudan’s cross-border areas with Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda” funded by the European Union (EU).
The motorbikes provided by FAO on behalf of the Ministry of Animal Resource and Fisheries of Abyei will boost the mobility of natural resource management committee experts to reach out to agro-pastoral communities and engage them in matters such as regulation of access, utilization and conservation of grazing areas.
“Access to water sources, forests and grazing areas remains strategic to enhance natural resource management in cross-border areas like Abyei,” said Sigfrido Romeo, FAO head of office in Abyei. “Through participatory planning and strategic interventions, we are working for a more inclusive and equitable access to water, pasture, forest and cropland.”
Insecurity and the associated violent appropriation of assets through cattle raiding added with continued outbreaks of livestock diseases are quite extensive in this part of the country. The unavailability of grazing resources and water during important transhumance movements are also some of the factors that exacerbated disputes and undermined peaceful cohabitation between farmers and pastoralists in cross-border and other areas of South Sudan.
In an effort to enhance a peaceful coexistence of the agro-pastoral communities, FAO and partners with funding from the EU, are contributing towards minimizing natural resource-based conflict also through training on resolving disputes and Joint Communal Peace Committees that serve as a platform to promote peace and harmony among border communities.
“These two motorbikes will play a significant role in building the peace process in this region,” said Kuol Deim Kuol, Chief Administrator of the Abyei Administrative Area during the handover ceremony. “This donation adds on the huge support we are receiving from FAO and the EU specifically in the distribution of seeds and tools to the most vulnerable, vaccination of our animals and the organization of migration peace conferences for communities like Ngok Dinka, Dinka Twic, Nuer and Misseriya”.
Through the cross-border project, the European Union has mobilized more than 30 million euro to accompany the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the cross-border areas of South Sudan on their path towards peace, resilience and livelihoods promotion.