Rwanda today joins the rest of the world to mark this year’s World Environment Day, with a call on it citizenry to desist from pursuing economic gains at the expense of the environment.The day is being marked under the theme, “Green Economy: Does it include you?” At the national level, the event will take place in Rubavu, Western Province. Rwanda is developing fast economically, and as the most densely populated country in Africa, the environment could easily take a toll, the Director General of the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Rose Mukankomeje, told The New Times in an interview.“Most of us rely on natural resources – whether it’s for agriculture, firewood, or whatever. And when you look at all farm activities, we still have to do a lot. When you look at population growth and natural resource use, there is an imbalance. This is the challenge we have,” she adds. Rwanda is the only country in the region to have successfully banned plastic bags. And the forest cover tremendously increased although it remains short of the targeted 30 per cent of the country’s total land surface. In some cases, the country’s top environmental watchdog, REMA, has had to clash with other government organs over perceived encroachment on wetlands and other protected areas. Businesses and residents alike have been ordered to relocate from particular areas over environmental concerns.Opia Mensah Kumah, the UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Kigali, says the UN was gratified to see that a “small, resource poor nation such as Rwanda, which is still grappling with high levels of poverty, has chosen to lead by example when it comes to developing a Green Economy.”In reference to the country’s national strategy “Green Growth and Climate Resilience” issued in November 2011, the Government of Rwanda laid out a clear and plausible path to achieving the ambitious development targets of Vision 2020 in a way that is sustainable, adds Kumah. “This move carries significance far beyond the Rwandan borders, an object lesson in achievement in the face of difficulty. The message to the world is loud and clear: If Rwanda can do it, then others should be able to”. Urbanisation and infrastructural development comes first in any country’s agenda, and yet, these features, if not implemented with caution, can become detrimental to environmental and weather patterns.. People tend to think that environment protection is a strategy for only the government and NGOs, but the theme this year calls on everyone to examine their own role in and keeping the environment healthy and green. Environmental degradation and climate change have been recognised as one of the main barriers to the country’s development aspirations, particularly on poverty alleviation and driving the economy to middle income status by 2020. The aspirations have translated into top-bottom actions to help conserve biodiversity, restore ecosystems and control pollution. As a result, Rwanda has been recognised internationally amongst the least carbon emitters. With over 80 percent of Rwandans relying on fuel wood (charcoal) for energy, forested areas such as Nyungwe (Africa’s largest montane forest) and Gishwati suffer encroachment.“We don’t have any right to destroy the environment,” Mukankomeje said. To avert that, several strategies have been taken.For example, the Ministry of Infrastructure prepared a Biomass Energy Strategy, through which modern stoves that require less wood, were distributed to communities that relied on cutting down trees for fuel. The ministry is also promoting charcoal substitutes like biogas, liquefied petroleum gas, methane, peat and solar energy techniques. By the end of last year, more than 400 biogas installations had been built by the Energy Water and Sanitation Authority and used in over 15,000 rural households, as a substitute to firewood. To save more trees, more than 333 potential micro hydro sites were identified, which will help EWSA reach its target of providing electricity to half the population by 2017, from 16 percent targeted for this year.
