By Thomas Kagera

Today, Rwanda joins the rest of the world to celebrate the World Environment Day (WED) under the theme: "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Con-sume with Care.”

Rwanda has always celebrated the gift of nature and endowment with awareness creation activities carried out for a week to encourage environmental protection and wise use of natural resources.

During this year’s Rwanda Environment Week, much emphasis and attention has been directed to resource efficiency and cleaner production; efficient use of water, energy, papers and raw materials in Government Institutions, Hotels, Indus-tries, Higher learning Institutions, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs) and communities; in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Indus-try, Private Sector Federation (PSF) and Rwanda Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RRECPC).

Today, the Landscape Approach to Forest Restoration and Conservation (LAFREC) project that is aimed at rehabilitation of Gishwati and Mukura forests is being launched in Rutsiro District, Mukura Sector.

Landscape Approach to Forest Restoration and Conservation (LAFREC), a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project, aims at restoring the highly degraded Gishwati-Mukura landscape, boosting land management of the Gishwati and Mukura forests and improving local livelihoods, environment, and climate resilience within the area.