By Jean-Pierre A.
The United Nations Educational Science and Cultural Organisation ( UNESCO) has inscribed South Sudan’s region known as Boma-Bandiglo Migratory Landscape to the World Heritage List, raising its international profile and its recognition as one of the most remarkable migratory systems.
The enlisted landscape spans Boma National Park, Badingilo National Park and the vast network of wildlife corridors that connect them. The landscape covers approximately 12 million hectares of savannas, floodplains, wetlands and woodlands.
One of the largest intact and ecologically functional landscapes in Africa, it forms the heart of the Great Nile Migration ecosystem and supports the largest terrestrial mammal migration on Earth, said The Africans Park, a conservation organisation that manages several protected areas in Africa; in a news release.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, meeting in Busan (Republic of Korea), decided to inscribe three sites on the World Heritage List following an emergency procedure: the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape (South Sudan), Mount Amel Castles (Lebanon), and Sebastia (State of Palestine), read the UN body’s news release published on 26 July.
According to UNESCO, the application of the emergency procedure reflects the current context marked by numerous crises of diverse nature, including armed conflict and climate change, that are heavily affecting heritage and exposing it to serious threats.
“These three sites have also been inscribed at the same time on the List of World Heritage in Danger,” adds the UN cultural and science body.
Denay Jock Chagor, South Sudan’s Minister of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, said the inscription of the Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape as South Sudan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site is a proud and historic moment for the nation. “It is international recognition of the extraordinary natural heritage that South Sudan holds for the benefit of the world, and of our commitment to protecting it for future generations.”
Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape is a vast expanse of East African savanna. The site hosts the largest known terrestrial mammal migration in the world, and its unique biodiversity makes it an ecosystem of exceptional global significance, said UNESCO.
The UN body adds, the site moreover, reflects the important cultural, and linguistic diversity of the region with several ethnic groups who have been custodians of “ this landscape through herding, farming and fishing for centuries and even millennia.”
Sarah Nyanath Elijah Yong, South Sudan’s Minister of Culture, Museums and National Heritage, said the inscription of the Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape on the UNESCO World Heritage List marks a defining milestone in South Sudan’s history. “As our country’s first World Heritage Site, it represents international recognition of a landscape whose value extends far beyond our borders and whose protection is a shared responsibility.”
The UNESCO Committee flagged several serious threats to South Sudan’s migratory landscape, notably infrastructure development, commercial poaching, and wildlife trafficking and trade, which directly affect the large populations of migratory mammals.
A context of persistent insecurity, along with limited institutional and financial capacity, also hinders effective conservation of the site, UN experts said.
African Parks, said, in 2024, the results of the first comprehensive aerial survey of the landscape confirmed what had long been suspected, but never fully quantified: approximately six million antelope, including white-eared kob, tiang, Mongalla gazelle and Bohor reedbuck, move across this vast ecosystem each year in response to seasonal rainfall.
