The youngest internationally recognized nation on earth, South Sudan’s relationship with its oil and gas reserves has been troubled and ambivalent – ever since its first day of existence oil was Juba’s immediate opening to generate a steady flow of government revenues that could rejuvenate the country’s war-torn economy. To a certain extent, South Sudan did manage to maintain a level of production feasible enough to resolve the quintessential issues of existence yet failed to pay attention to the nascent state’s teething problems. Protection of the environment turned out to be one of those overlooked topics that suddenly took center stage this summer and might even jeopardize the country’s future prospects. Could South Sudan weather such an environmental storm? Forced ethnic clearing of the Dinka and Nuer after oil was found in what is now South Sudan in the 1970-1980s, a subsequent sanguinary civil war bordering on genocide, oil […]