LIKE IN the previous years, Rwanda will today join the international community to celebrate the World Environment Day (WED). 

WED constitutes an important avenue for the United Nations for broadening and deepening worldwide awareness, political attention and public action on sound environmental management and the challenges of climate change. 

Therefore, over the years, the day has grown to be a broad, global platform for public outreach on issues affecting our environment. More specifically, it serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for protecting the environment, galvanizing individual actions into a collective power that generates an exponential positive impact on the planet.

The theme for this year’s WED celebrations is "Raise your voice, not the sea level”. In this context, it seeks to focus attention on the urgency to help protect the islands around the world in the face of growing risks and vulnerabilities as a result of climate change which leaves small island states and coastal communities around the globe vulnerable to floods, storm surges and rising sea level.

Global warming through concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere causes the unprecedented change in the earth’s climate. According to the UN’s recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report: "increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” for the entire planet. 

The impacts are already plain to see: floods and droughts, severe erosions, volatile agricultural production levels and rising food prices, all resulting in increased vulnerability for the poor in particular.

There is no doubt that Rwanda has made notable progress in the area of sound environmental management and putting strategic frameworks for responding to climate change. But more needs to be done, particularly with respect to addressing the challenges of climate change. The realities of the impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt. 

They pose a varied range of environmental threats of unmeasured magnitude, including the loss of human life, displacement of people, infrastructural damage, landslides, destruction of property and loss of livelihoods, especially through the adverse impacts on agricultural production. 

Major socio-economic impacts caused by extreme and volatile weather events, which include periodic floods and droughts, are already negatively impacting on the country’s otherwise positive economic growth trajectory so far. 

According to statistics from REMA and MIDIMAR, between 2011-2013, 427 Climate-related disasters occurred with 249 deaths, 321 injuries, 3731 totally destroyed houses,  5884 partially damaged houses and  12,488 hectares of crop lands destroyed.

On this World Environment Day, we should raise our collective voices fortaking action to reduce the carbon footprints by all,bearing in mind that our future prosperity depends on our actions today. 

In this regard, I would like to commend the Government of Rwanda for its determination to move things from strategic frameworks to concrete actions in addressing climate change, upscale its sound environmental management policies and fully embrace green growth strategies, especially in the context of the country’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2013 – 2018 (EDPRS II) and Vision 2020. 

Rwanda is increasingly demonstrating strong commitment to reducing its carbon footprints. Additionally, the country has put in place a National Adaptation Plan of Action with concrete measures, established the National Fund for Environment (Fonerwa) and developed a climate resilience green growth strategy.

Building resilience in the face of the impacts of climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures will go a long way in protecting and enhancing the positive development results that Rwanda has achieved in recent years.

The One UN Rwanda, in conjunction with partners such as the World Bank, AfDB, Japan and Sweden, will step up its support to Rwanda’s efforts at accelerating inclusive and green economic transformation, deepening its sustainable management of the environment and natural resources, reinforcing disaster risk reduction as well as up scaling implementation of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) agenda to achieve greater environmental and climate change resilience in line with Rio+20 recommendations on sustainable development.

As we celebrate the WED 2014, let us all join hands to tackle the enormous challenges posed by climate change. This year, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, urges every one of us to take inspiration from their efforts to address climate change, strengthen resilience and work for a sustainable future. 

His following words are very pertinent to the WED 2014: "Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in a common purpose, we can make a tremendous difference”. 

This was very much evident at the Umuganda jointly done on May 31st 2014 at Bugesera district by the Government (through MINERENA and REMA), local communities and the One UN Rwanda Staff. Planet Earth is our shared island.  Let us join forces to protect it!

Lamin Manneh is the Resident Coordinator, One UN Rwanda.