February 26, 2021

Terry Swartzberg

Two decades of oil production in South Sudan have taken a terrible toll.

How terrible is to be seen everywhere in the country’s oil-producing regions, which are dotted by thousands of toxin-laden “oil ponds”

How terrible is to be witnessed in the health of the country’s population, which has been devastated by world-worst levels of lead and other forms of poisoning.

How terrible has now been quantified – – for the first time – in a report submitted by Sign of Hope to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council.

And these facts paint a picture that is worse than the most nightmarish of all forecasts.

The consortia have released sheer unimaginably gigantic amounts of pollutants into the environment while pumping oil in South Sudan, and done so with “no or negligible levels of treatment”.
The results of this “eco-cide”: 2.3 million children in South Sudan are at least “moderately lead-poisoned”, according to UNICEF. Key findings:

Oil production in South Sudan in the years 1999 – 2020 released following gigantic amounts of contaminating fluids into the country’s environment:

1.36 trillion (1,362,519,667,348) liters of produced (poisoned) water containing a total of 8.31 million (8,310,007) tons of salt;

7.90 billion (7,896,000,000) liters of oil well drilling fluids containing a total of 1.18 tons of chromium, 12.05 tons of lead, 2.53 tons of nickel, 1.39 tons of cadmium, and 437,806.88 tons of salt

At least six million (6,000,000) liters of crude oil spilled.