OPINION: Urgent call for early action on drought, food security and climate resilience in South Sudan

Mayiik Ayii Deng, a member of National Parliament and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – COURTESY

“Early Warning Must Lead to Early Action” – I wish to draw the attention of the people of South Sudan, our national and state authorities, development and humanitarian partners, civil society, the private sector and our international partners to the increasingly serious drought, food-security and climate-related risks facing our communities.

This is not a call for panic, nor is it intended as criticism of Government or the institutions already working to protect our people. It is a call for vigilance, preparedness and timely collective action.

Recent assessments and early-warning information from FAO, WFP and other humanitarian partners indicate exceptionally high levels of food insecurity in South Sudan, with drought and increasingly unpredictable rainfall adding further pressure to agriculture, livestock, water availability, food prices and household livelihoods. We should therefore treat the available early-warning information as an opportunity to act before conditions deteriorate further.

Drought requires our immediate and long-term attention

South Sudan’s dependence on rain-fed agriculture and pastoral livelihoods makes our communities particularly sensitive to changes in rainfall patterns. A prolonged or poorly distributed rainy season can quickly translate into reduced crop production, depleted household food stocks, rising food prices, livestock and livelihood losses, malnutrition, and increased humanitarian needs. These risks can be compounded by displacement, conflict, poor market connectivity and limited water infrastructure.

However, drought should not only be viewed as a humanitarian emergency. It is increasingly a national development, economic and resilience issue. The climate shocks being experienced around the world—including droughts, floods, extreme rainfall and other weather events—remind us that South Sudan cannot assume that it is exempt from global climate and weather shocks.

Circumstances in countries such as Nepal and others have demonstrated how repeated climate shocks can affect agriculture, water, infrastructure, livelihoods and national economic development. We must therefore begin thinking beyond the next emergency and invest in long-term climate and drought resilience.

A call to the national Ministry of Agriculture and food security 

I respectfully call upon the National Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, in collaboration with relevant national institutions, state governments and partners, to give the emerging drought and food-security indicators urgent attention. I further encourage the Ministry to consider triggering the appropriate national
preparedness mechanisms and convening an urgent Food Security and Drought Partners Roundtable.

The Roundtable should bring together Government, state authorities, FAO, WFP, UNICEF and other UN agencies, development partners, humanitarian organizations, farmers and pastoralist representatives, civil society, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders.

The objective should be practical: To develop a jointly owned Drought and Food Security Early Action Plan for 2026–2027, linked to a longer-term national climate-resilience strategy. Such a plan should consider:

• Strengthening national and community early-warning systems;
• Drought-resilient and climate-smart agriculture;
• Water harvesting, storage and small-scale irrigation;
• Protection of livestock and pastoral livelihoods;
• Strategic food storage and market monitoring;
• Nutrition preparedness;
• Anticipatory financing and early humanitarian action;
• Climate-resilient infrastructure; and
• Long-term investment in national food-system resilience.

A call to all South Sudanese

I also appeal to all citizens and communities across South Sudan to remain vigilant and communicate emerging warning signs early. Farmers, pastoralists, traders, community leaders, health workers, teachers, civil society and local authorities are often the first to see changes in rainfall, crops, pasture, water availability, livestock conditions, food prices and household food stocks.

Please do not wait until a situation becomes a crisis before reporting it. We should establish and strengthen a culture of: MONITOR, REPORT, VERIFY, COMMUNICATE and ACT. Every early-warning signal should have the potential to trigger an appropriate early response.

A call to our development and humanitarian partners

I urge our development and humanitarian partners to continue supporting South Sudan in moving progressively from a predominantly crisis-response approach towards prevention, anticipatory action and resilience-building.

The recent drought anticipatory-action initiative supported by WFP and the Government in Eastern Equatoria demonstrates that early action is possible in South Sudan. We should learn from such initiatives and explore how similar approaches can be strengthened and expanded to other vulnerable areas based on credible evidence.

This is a National Responsibility

The responsibility for food security and climate resilience cannot rest with Government alone. It requires Government leadership, community vigilance, private-sector participation, development-partner support and responsible engagement by all South Sudanese.

Our diaspora communities can also play an important role by supporting household preparedness and community resilience. Most importantly, we must avoid waiting for hunger, malnutrition, livestock losses and empty granaries to become widespread before mobilising.

The objective is not to predict famine. The objective is to prevent severe food insecurity from reaching that point. South Sudan has an opportunity to use the early-warning information available today to strengthen preparedness, protect livelihoods and reduce the human and economic cost of future climate shocks.

My call

I therefore respectfully urge: The Government of South Sudan — to strengthen preparedness and coordination; The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security — to lead an urgent assessment and partner dialogue; State Governments and local authorities — to strengthen community-level monitoring and reporting; Development and humanitarian partners — to support anticipatory action, food security and climate resilience; Communities and citizens — to monitor, communicate and prepare early; and Our international and development partners — to support South Sudan’s transition from repeated emergency response towards sustainable resilience.
Let us not wait for the next crisis to teach us what we already know.

Climate and weather shocks are becoming an increasingly important global development challenge. South Sudan is not exempt. We must therefore prepare not only for the drought we may be facing today, but also for the climate shocks that may confront our country tomorrow.

Early warning must lead to early action.

DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS MUST BECOME A NATIONAL PRIORITY. CLIMATE RESILIENCE MUST BECOME A LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY.
Let us act now, while there is still time to protect lives, livelihoods and the future of South Sudan.

Editor’s Note: The author, Hon. Mayiik Ayii Deng, is a Member of Parliament in the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) and a member of the Standing Specialized Committee on National Security and Public Order. He is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and former Minister in the Office of the President. The views expressed in this article are solely his own and do not represent the position of Eye Radio.