As Rwanda moves to implement Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy that envisages making the country a developed climate-resilient and low-carbon economy by 2050, every year is shaped by events striving to promote green economy.
However, despite these efforts, 2019 was not short of catastrophic events that could derail some of the gains made towards this quest for a climate-resilient economy.
As we come towards the end of the year, The New Times has compiled some of the major events and issues that shaped the environment sector during 2019.
Ban on single use plastics
In June 2019, Parliament passed a draft law prohibiting the manufacture, importation, use and sale of single-use plastic items in Rwanda.
The ban was enforced by law N° 17/2019 of 10/08/2019.
The banned items include single-use plastic packaging materials for food and other products, plastic straws, plastic spoons and forks, plastic knives, plastic cups, dishes and balloons among others.
Most of plastic items end up in soil, landfills, rivers, lakes, oceans, waterways, and the environment and they do not biodegrade which means they affect agricultural productivity, fish productivity, flooding among others effects.
The wholesalers of the banned items are liable to an administrative fine of Rwf700, 000 and dispossession of those items.
The retailer of plastic carry bags and single-use plastic items are liable to an administrative fine of Rwf300, 000 and dispossession of such items.
According to Eng. Coletha U. Ruhamya, Director General of REMA, the ban was first applied on single-use plastic items found to have alternatives while those without alternatives are given special authorization according to set up guidelines.
She explained that that the existing factories in Rwanda manufacturing single-use plastic items have been granted two years from the date of publication of the law to have phased out production of such items.
Green transport with electric vehicles
Green transport as one of 14 programmes that compose Rwanda Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy also got boost from new investment in electric cars and motorcycles.
In October, Volkswagen launched electric vehicles in Rwanda.
Officials at the firm were projecting to deploy about 50 cars and 15 charging stations across the city in few months after the launch.
These are supposed to be added to the fleet of cars operated by the firm under its Move Mobility Solutions.
Shared electric motorcycles and bikes were also launched in Rwanda in October by Safi Ltd, a local start-up behind the technology as part of broader efforts toward smart cities and a clean energy-oriented transport system.
The firm says that it has invested around $13 million in the technology and plans to roll out at least 3,000 electronic bicycles, 2,500 smart bikes, and 1,500 electronic scooters.
These new models are expected to reduce imported fuel blamed for emitting carbon emissions in the air and thus causing global warming that triggers climate change.
Climate change scorecard
In June, the Ministry of Environment released the Third National Communication Report on climate change.
The report indicated that agriculture produces most emissions of greenhouse gases in Rwanda with the sector accounting for 70.4 per cent of the total national emissions.
After agriculture, energy follows as the second biggest contributor of greenhouse emissions in Rwanda, accounting for 20.11 per cent, followed by waste and industrial processes at 7.55 per cent and 1.08 per cent respectively.
National communication reports are submitted to the United Nations every four years under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).
The report was launched in Kigali on the occasion of the World Environment Day.
Handover of Gishwati-Mukura National Park
In October this year, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) took over the management of Gishwati-Mukura National Park after being rehabilitated by the Ministry of Environment.
The park has been undergoing restoration under a project by Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) since 2014.
The forest had been degraded by human settlement, agricultural practices and illegal mining.
RDB is working on a multi-phased conservation and tourism management program with Imizi, a subsidiary of Wilderness Safaris, a conservation organization with a presence in seven African countries, to develop and operate an exclusive chimpanzee and primate trekking experience.
Hitting 30% forest cover
In November, government announced that Rwanda had reached its 30 percent forest cover goal.
This goal was a key objective of the Vision 2020.
Studies show that, between 1990 and 2010, Rwanda lost 37 percent of its forest cover due to forest degradation.
Private Forest Management Units, under the new model was launched to manage forests, have been formed through eight model cooperatives of private smallholder forests across the country.
According to Vincent Nsabuwera, a forestry expert at RWFA, many forests landowners were harvesting between only three and five cubic metres of wood per one hectare yet there is potential to harvest between 60 cubic metres and 300 cubic metres.
Forest plantations for farmers make 67 percent of all forest cover across the country while state-owned forests make up 27 percent while the rest is owned by districts, private institutions with 2 percent and 3 percent respectively.
Over 7,000 activities face eviction from wetlands
At the beginning of the year, findings by Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) revealed that 78.9 per cent of 7,222 illegal activities in wetlands are residential, 9.44 per cent are commercial houses, and 2.85 per cent are livestock activities while 3.18 per cent are both commercial and residential activities.
The survey indicated that approximately 55 per cent of the activities don’t have any legal documents that authorize them to do so.
Nyandungu Eco-tourism Park
Government contracted a new firm for the development of the Nyandungu Urban Wetland Eco-Tourism Park project after terminating the previous contractor.
The wetland, that must be both rehabilitated and turned into recreational park, stretches through the sectors of Nyarugunga of Kicukiro District and Ndera of Gasabo District along the Special Economic Zone.
Jules Djangwani, the project coordinator at Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), told The New Times that the Rwf5bn project will have also medicinal plants garden.
Preliminary projections of the study showed that the eco-tourism park could generate over Rwf1bn in profit in the first 12 years of operation.
Kigali awarded for upholding environmental protection
In November, Kigali was awarded for upholding environmental protection values, notably for having put in place bi-monthly car free days where mass sport is done to fight non communicable diseases, organise general tests and health checkups on site.
Green city project
In May 2019, it was announced that Development of a model green city in Kigali is set to get underway in January 2020.
The green city will sit on 620 hectares in Kinyinya Sector, Gasabo District complete with a system that prevents environmental degradation and air pollution.
The project is expected to create approximately 16,000 jobs when fully developed, Rwanda Green Fund has revealed.
At least 10 per cent of housing units to be constructed in a model green city in Kinyinya sector of Gasabo district will be offered to destitute residents from 1st and 2nd Ubudehe categories.
The city will have clean technologies, electric vehicles, electric bicycle and motorcycle lanes, renewable energy, sustainable waste treatment, biogas plants, urban forests, among others.
Disasters cost Rwf700 million
Statistics from the Ministry of Emergency Management (MINEMA) show that 70 people died countrywide between January and September 2019, due to disasters.
Figures also indicate that 177 people were injured during the same period, 4,095 houses were damaged, 6,708 hectares of crops destroyed, while 167 livestock were killed.
MINEMA estimates that these damages were worth about Rwf744 million.
Rwanda Meteorology Agency has warned that heavy rains could persist up to the end of December, a situation that requires all sectors to adapt to disaster effects that will come as a result.