Juba, South Sudan—Executive Director Mafalda Duarte headed the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) first-ever delegation to South Sudan and committed to significantly increasing climate investment in the country by the end of this year.

Arriving in a blistering heatwave that forced the country’s schools to close for two weeks, the GCF delegation met with H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Minister for Environment and Forestry, Josephine Napwon Cosmos Ngoya, Cabinet ministers, civil society organisations, and the private sector.

Duarte said the Fund was committed to partner with climate-vulnerable communities and countries that are currently underserved by the GCF. 

“The GCF has a strong focus on vulnerability across our adaptation portfolio, being mandated to programme half of our adaptation portfolio in African states, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. Over the past nine months, we have programmed more than USD 250 million in previously underserved countries, including Somalia, Iraq, Mali, Togo, and Burundi,” she said.

“However, we have more to do to significantly invest in extremely vulnerable communities, particularly those affected by the triple threat of fragility, conflict and climate. Our visit is about scaling up our investment in South Sudan to meet this challenge,” Duarte said.

Extreme climate events – from searing heatwaves and drought in some parts of the country to a continuous four-year flood in another – are having a devastating impact on South Sudan.

The world’s youngest country is grappling with one of the severest humanitarian crises, driven by the interplay between ongoing conflict, inter-communal violence, and climate-driven disasters. Almost half of the population - 7.1 million people out of an overall population of approximately 13 million - is experiencing extreme food insecurity. More than 2.3 million people have been internally displaced. Women and children are extremely vulnerable.  

Duarte stated: “South Sudan is not just a nation at risk, it is a nation of great potential: the Suud wetlands are the largest on the continent; more than 89% of the land is arable; the population is young and ambitious.

“We acknowledge the vision and ambition of the South Sudanese government. The GCF’s visit and our ensuing investment signals the start of our journey to invest in sustainable, systemic climate action investment, giving this young nation the head start it deserves.” 

The Fund confirmed it has a preliminary multi-sector investment pipeline for South Sudan – which includes a focus on community resilience in flood-prone areas, agriculture and food security, and education – to be presented this year to its board. 

In addition, GCF will make available up to USD 7 million in Readiness investment to empower South Sudan to develop strong climate investment capacities and create a country-owned investment pipeline in the medium- to long-term.