This story is reproduced with permission. The original story was published on 8 June 2023, and is accessible here.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is consistently looking for innovative ways to reduce its environmental footprint.

“In the past two years, we have seen climate shocks wreak havoc in the lives of South Sudanese communities through unprecedented flooding,” says Qazi Masroor Ullah, Chief, UNMISS Service Delivery.

“As part of the larger UN family, we are committed to ensuring that UNMISS does everything in its power to reduce the long-term impact of our operations,” he says.

Green energy, according to Mr. Ullah, is the future. In keeping with the directive for peace operations to run on 80 per cent renewable energy by 2030, UNMISS began a pilot project, in partnership with Juba Electricity Distribution Company Ltd., which supplies electricity derived from renewable energy sources.

The plan, reveals Ullah, is to light up the UNMISS compound—commonly called Tomping—with clean, green electricity.

“We’re going to be monitoring this project closely. The aim is to connect other mission bases in the same way if it works well,” he says.

Nearly 50 per cent of the energy produced through this initiative, which capitalizes on the plentiful sunshine during South Sudan’s dry season, is environmentally friendly. As a bonus, it will reduce the mission’s consumption of fossil fuels.

“We have a responsibility to the communities we serve to create pathways that reduce dependencies on finite resources and build blueprints for a peaceful, prosperous, and energy-efficient South Sudan,” concludes Ullah.

“Projects such as this bring us a small step closer towards a larger global goal.” 

Written by Carole Abou Farah