Newest nation South Sudan ravaged by war, climate

Terra Daily via AFP: The world's newest nation, South Sudan, appealed Thursday for help in healing a land ravaged by war and disruptive weather as it made its maiden appearance at the UN climate talks. "Climate change in Southern Sudan has very, very serious negative effects. In terms of agriculture, this is really catastrophic," its environment minister, Alfred Lado Gore, told AFP.

Independent from Sudan since only July, the country has been crippled by nearly four decades of conflict that left an estimated two million dead. It has almost no infrastructure, a third of its population is threatened with famine and only four percent of its arable land is under cultivation, by some estimates.

Global warming would seem to be far down the list of South Sudan's priorities but is in fact a pressing concern, Gore said.

"It's a drastic climatic change, and this is manifest in the pattern of rain," he said, speaking before he delivered his country's first address before the 194-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "Nobody can actually predict when rains come, and this is causing a lot of concerns," Gore said....