Water Harvesting and Natural Resource Management in South Sudan: Technical Guidelines

The struggle over natural resources, particularly pasture and water during the dry season, is a critical issue in many pastoral production areas of South Sudan and is one of the major causes of conflict between pastoral and farming communities in the country. In order to address such conflicts associated with use of and access to pasture and water, the Government of South Sudan and the international community has been financing the construction of hafirs in order to provide water for livestock during the dry season. However, in addressing the problem of water scarcity through the construction of water harvesting structures, the Government of South Sudan has focused on the physical designs and technical aspects of the hafirs with less emphasis on natural resource issues around these structures.