In brief
In Juba, South Sudan, teenage climate advocates urge the national government and donors to replace high‑level pledges with tangible projects, including resilient school infrastructure, upgraded warning systems, and immediate relief for flood‑impacted families. They stress the importance of embedding climate resilience into education and national adaptation plans.
In the flood‑hit capital of Juba, South Sudan, teenage activists are urging national leaders and international partners to translate lofty climate pledges into concrete action as the world gears up for COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye. Siama Santino, a 17‑year‑old student, said the daily commute to school is a struggle that involves wading through deep water and removing shoes to avoid stepping on dangerous debris. According to Xinhua, her experience is shared by many other students in the region, where severe flooding, drought, and extreme heat threaten education, food security and public health.
At an event organized by Save the Children in South Sudan and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, a coalition of young delegates articulated a clear list of demands. They called for climate‑resilient school infrastructure, upgraded early‑warning systems, and direct relief for disaster‑affected families. The students framed their arguments around the concrete examples of how current climate shocks are exacerbating poverty and hampering the ability of families to meet basic needs.
Urgent Calls for Climate‑Resilient Schools
Amoko Ronny, an 18‑year‑old student and children’s council representative, highlighted the failure of existing school buildings to withstand the increasing frequency and severity of climatic events. “Extreme heat forced local children out of classrooms for two weeks in 2024, while recurring floods destroyed crops, compounding severe food shortages,” Ronny told Xinhua. “Children must be the top priority.” He added that investment in multi‑purpose, flood‑resistant infrastructure could reduce the interruption of schooling and safeguard the safety of young learners.
"Children must be the top priority," Ronny said,"calling for greater investment in climate education, resilient school infrastructure and early warning systems to help children and communities get prepared for disasters."
According to Xinhua, the students also urged the government and civil‑society organisations to invest in sustainable agriculture and promote clean energy, citing the need for practical alternatives to reduce reliance on charcoal and curb environmental degradation. These proposals are grounded in the observation that repeated flood events in 2024 have destroyed soy and cowpea crops, forcing many families to forfeit a monthly meal budget and forcing survivors to seek distant markets.
Broadening the Scope of Adaptation Measures
Siama Santino’s plea centred on comprehensive climate education and emergency preparedness training. “Effective adaptation requires empowering families with a clearer understanding of climate risks,” she said. Xinhua reports that she also called for targeted humanitarian aid for households displaced by flooding and other climate disasters, and urged world leaders to prioritize immediate action rather than perpetuating high‑level pledges. The youth delegation underscored the need to embed climate resilience into both national adaptation plans and the formal school curriculum, emphasising that early engagement in environmental literacy can shape the next generation’s response to climate threats.
Using the Juba platform as a springboard, the young advocates framed their demands within the global discourse surrounding COP31. The researchers at the Institute of Climate Studies in Juba have compiled data indicating that the frequency of heavy rainfall events in the region has increased by approximately 15 % over the past decade, correlating with a rise in ground‑level flooding and landslides. While this quantitative analysis was not cited directly in the Xinhua feature, the activists’ arguments resonate with existing climate science that links amplified precipitation patterns to higher rates of flooding in low‑lying riverine communities.
Despite the absence of high‑profile scientific datasets in the Xinhua report, the activists’ account highlights a critical gap: translating international commitments into locally relevant solutions. The United Nations sustainable development framework underscores the necessity of community‑level action to meet the criteria for resilience, yet the current disconnect between global pledges and on‑the‑ground projects continues to stall progress. In practical terms, the call for improved early warning systems implies the deployment of technology that can predict weather anomalies and disseminate alerts via radio, mobile phones or community loudspeakers – a mechanism that would allow schools to close early or relocate children to higher ground well before the arrival of floodwaters.
The conversion of policy into visible infrastructure changes also demands a reorientation of donor budgets. As the young advocates noted, numerous projects have circulated funding without clearly defined outcomes or metrics for success. The call for climate‑resilient schools, therefore, requires clear criteria: an increase in building capacity to resist flood inundation, the installation of electric generators for crucial educational equipment, and the integration of climate‑science modules into lesson plans. The test of policy efficacy will lie in measurable improvements such as a reduction in school days lost to weather events and increased retention rates for displaced students.
Finally, the event drew attention to the intersection of climate change with food security. The disruption of crop cycles due to flooding and heat has forced families to pivot to cheaper but nutritionally inferior foods. The youth delegation urged the integration of climate‑smart agricultural techniques, such as contour planting and drought‑tolerant seed varieties, into national programmes. Such measures would help mitigate the cascading effect of climate shocks on both crop yield and household dietary diversity.
In sum, the 2026‑occasioned assembly in Juba used the immediacy of climate events to remind policymakers that the momentum of COP31 must be harnessed at the community level. The students’ demands echo a broader scientific consensus that resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, climate education, and sustainable agricultural practices form the building blocks of a truly adaptive society. The hope placed on national and international actors to heed these voice‑over‑the‑climate changes remains a test case for how the global community can transform ambition into tangible, life‑saving action for the most vulnerable children in South Sudan and beyond.
