Land, Natural Resources, and Environmental Protection in the Juba Peace Agreement

That competition over degrading land and shrinking natural resources—exacerbated by climate change—has played a role in Sudan’s and Darfur’s conflicts is widely accepted, even though assessments differ as to the extent of such a role. The Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) reflects this reality by devoting considerable space to issues such as land possession, cooperation between herders and farmers, sustainable management of natural resources, and environmental protection. Accordingly, this article analyzes the provisions of the JPA that are concerned with land and environment-related aspects; and it gives a preliminary assessment of their implementation. The article concludes that while the JPA shows considerable awareness of the critical role that the protection of the environment and sound management of natural resources can play in building more peaceful societies, the implementation of the relevant provisions is currently very limited. A bottom-up approach, which genuinely involves all Sudan’s regions and sectors of society, appears indispensable for the effective implementation of the provisions in question and for sustainable peace in Sudan.