One of the outcomes of the just concluded climate change summit in Durban was a commitment to the full implementation of the package to support developing nations agreed last year in Cancun, Mexico.

The package includes the Green Climate Fund and an adaptation mechanism that will help the developing countries move to a green economy and cope with the effects of climate change.

Like most African countries, Rwanda is far from being a major emitter of greenhouse gases, yet stands to be among the most affected.

Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere leading to global warming. Taming global warming is key the avoiding unpredictable climatic variations, some of which have been witnessed of late with unhappy consequences.

If global warming is not checked, the promise is one of havoc to African economies, including Rwanda, which are mainly agricultural based.

According to a study by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Rwanda could suffer economic costs amounting to 1% of annual GDP by 2030 due to global warming. The institute predicts a temperature rise of between 1.5 and 3 degrees Celsius by the 2050s.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels is the limit beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible. This could have dire and wide ranging consequences. 

The Stockholm Environment Institute report also points out that a large proportion of the rural population in Rwanda currently lives at altitudes beyond the normal mosquito habitat. It explains that as temperatures rise, so will the threshold altitude, increasing by 150% the number of Rwandans at risk of Malaria by 2050. The potential healthcare costs are of the order of $50 million per annum.

On its part, Rwanda has developed a timely Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy, which "sets out an ambitious pathway to a low carbon economy” and will be integrated into all of Rwanda’s development plans.

This was explained by the Minister of Natural Resources at the Durban summit as he noted that the strategy is an integrated cross-sectoral policy that will accelerate economic growth and while maintaining low greenhouse gas emission levels.

Essentially, Rwanda’s Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy aims to have in place a climate risk management infrastructure. This lays the necessary foundation to build the capacity to adapt to potential climate changes along with the acceleration of poverty reduction strategies.

This may be complemented by the Green Climate Fund. It is hoped the Fund pegged at $100 million a year by 2020 promised by rich countries and the private sector at the Durban summit will go a long way in supporting Africa and the developing nations cope with the effects of climate change.

Though some issues of commitment by the rich countries remain, the Durban package spells out a roadmap process towards a new climate change deal that will be legally-binding for all countries and expected to be written by 2015 and come into force after 2020.

Reducing the greenhouse gases remains a collective international effort. The rich and newly industrialised countries such as China and India remain with the burden to cut down on their emissions. The developing countries must unrelentingly ensure that the commitments are kept or risk suffering the effects of climate change.

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