South Sudan: Floods, Conflict, and Finding Higher Ground

The pilot episode introduces the concept of climate, peace and security and the UN’s work on it. It serves as a primer on what climate, peace and security means at the UN, and why it matters. It then discusses this through one of the most tangible examples: South Sudan’s devastating floods in areas where resource competition and armed group presence already strain social cohesion. It weaves together the story of communities responding to climate-driven insecurities, the challenges on local peacebuilding amid humanitarian crises, and the UN’s evolving role in integrating climate risk into peacekeeping and peacebuilding. To help us understand why and what it means for communities on the ground, Nazanine Moshiri speaks to Johnson Nkem from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and Repent Taban from the Nile Sustainable Development Organization. References: Daniel Akech Thiong, 2025: "Climate Shocks and Pastoralist Migration in South Sudan".References:UNMISS Mandate;Thiong (2025), Climate Shocks and Pastoralist Migration in South Sudan: An Ecological Approach for Political Cooperation.Climate, Crisis and Courage is hosted by Nazanine Moshiri.Produced by the Climate Security Mechanism and the United Nations System Staff College, in collaboration with the Berghof Foundation.In this episode, we have used audio clips from UN Web TV and ABC News.