The world’s youngest nation of South Sudan, which emerged after decades of civil war, is home to the world’s biggest conservation project twice the size of Portugal. The conflicts have had an unintended consequence: they delayed development, meaning few roads were built, keeping poachers out and allowing wildlife to flourish. Last year, African Parks, a Johannesburg-based conservation organisation, was given a 10-year mandate by the government to try to protect an area of 200,000km2 – an ecosystem stretching from the White Nile in the west to the Ethiopian borderlands in the East. Can this once war-torn nation redefine itself by using its natural riches to become a safe haven for wildlife? FRANCE 24 Correspondent Olivia Bizot reports.
