Country committed in fight against climate change – Kamanzi

The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, has said that Rwanda is committed in its support of the regional Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation programme. He made the remarks yesterday while speaking to The New Times, on the five-year Programme on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation that was recently launched by the East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in Durban, South Africa. The focus of the programme is increasing investments in climate resilient and carbon efficient agriculture (climate-smart agriculture) and its linkages to forestry, land use and energy practices by 2016. “It’s indeed critical that climate change issues are tackled regionally in addition to specific national programmes. These regional member countries are required to identify priority adaptation and mitigation actions that need immediate implementation,” he said. “We will be part of the concerted effort, especially regarding pooling together needed resources for a regional common action.” The programme, an initiative of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite, aims to harmonize climate change programmes by the three regional blocs and address its impact through successful adaptation and mitigation actions to enhance economic/and social resilience. The programme received $20 million funding from the Royal Government of Norway, the European Union Commission and UK’s Department of International Development (DfID), signifying an exemplary partnership between Africa and Europe on climate change. frank.kanyesigye@newtimes.co.rw

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Country committed in fight against climate change – Kamanzi