Rwanda will join the rest of Africa to urge developed countries to reduce their carbon emissions by 40 percent come 2050.

African countries are expected to table the concern during the upcoming international conference on climate change scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

"We have harmonized our requests as African countries and during the Copenhagen conference we will table and push our concerns regarding an immense reduction of carbon emission by 40 percent in 2050,” State Minister for Mines and Natural Resources, Vincent Karega said.

Countries are following the Kyoto Protocol that calls for strengthening of international response to climate change. The protocol stipulates that countries have to reduce their carbon emissions by 20 percent in 2020.

The Kyoto Protocol is a 1997 international treaty which came into force in 2005 and binds most developed nations from producing green-house gasses.

"Rwanda is one of the countries in the world that produces the smallest quantity of carbon and during the Copenhagen conference, Rwanda and all other African nations will voice their concerns for the reduction of carbon emission since the end results affects us most,” Karega said.

"We will have to strongly voice our concerns, and emphasize the adoption of low carbon emission technologies in industries and manufacturing and call for dedicated engagement in the global governance aspects of climate change,” said Karega.

He noted that some of the issues to be tabled include a call for the closure of outdated factories and manufacturing plants and the revamping of environmental friendly

technology.
The leaders of the G-8 have been criticized for failing to make more substantive commitments to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

"The policies that they have stated so far are not enough, not sufficient enough,” the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters gathered at the G-8 summit in Italy, last July.

"This is the science. We must work according to the science. This is politically and morally imperative and a historic responsibility for the leaders for the future of humanity, even for the future of planet Earth,” Ban said.

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