Low level of private sector investment in climate adaptation projects continues to dog the implementation of measures to mitigate the climate change impact despite good policies in place plus untapped opportunities.

Environmental experts revealed this on Tuesday during a dialogue on Environment and Sustainable Business Development in Kigali.

The meeting brought together participants from the private sector, civil society organisations, intergovernmental institutions and cooperatives, among others.

Faustin Munyazikwiye, the deputy director-general of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), said building resilience and climate adaptation will not be successful if the private sector continues to lag behind.

"The role of the private sector and other actors is much more in the implementation, our economy is to be driven by the private sector, so we need to translate this into action,” he said.

"If you don’t take into consideration climate change impact, all the money you invested can be washed away in seconds, so we want the private sector to know more about our climate change vulnerability and be part of this battle to build resilience in our country.” 

Munyazikwiye urged the private sector to seek funding from the Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA) and international agencies whenever they are constrained.

The event was organised by the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS Network) and the German International Corporation (GIZ).

Sam Kanyamibwa, the executive director of the network, stressed the need for collaborative approach to involve all stakeholders to address these challenges as the private sector engagement to the agenda is very low.

"Members of the private sector have limited understanding and awareness about climate change impact and believe that they can continue business as usual, they don’t see directly the impact,” he said.

Kanyamibwa said the meeting was an opportunity to share experiences to promote better understanding and awareness about the impact of climate change and some success stories about how things can be done.

"We hope that we can come up with agreed way forward to maintain this platform and come up with action in the future where we can support the government agenda for climate change adaptation and implementation of the green growth and climate resilience strategy,” he added

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