Rwanda Environment

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

View Rwanda Differently Issue.008

GREENING

RWANDA SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE

7 -YEAR ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES SECTOR

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

View Rwanda Differently

Published by The New Times Publications Ltd on Behalf of Ministry of Enviroment COORDINATION Kirui Moses EDITOR Thomas Kagera MARKETING Tom Jack Kakyomya STAFF WRITERS Diane Mushimiyimana, Ian Ford Nkera, Joseph Mudingu, Thomas Kagera, Donatah Mbabazi PHOTOGRAPHY Timothy Kisambira, Sam Ngendahimana, Diane Mushimiyimana DESIGN AND LAYOUT Yakub Ibrahim OUTLOOK RWANDA Tel: +250782859324/+250782202058

TABLE OF CONTENTS

04 05 06

10

H.E President Quote on enviroment A Word from the Minister enviroment Environment and climate

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REMA

14 Water and Forestry

18 24

34 36

FONERWA

08

Meteorology FORESTRY Planning for land optimization

52 MINING

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“There is no trade-off between economic growth and protecting our environment.

They complement each other. When we protect our environment, we are also taking care of ourselves. The more we put efforts in conservation, the more benefits we amass. This means that the communities will even benefit more,”

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Developing Natural Resources while Protecting the Environment Dr. Vincent Biruta.

R

wanda has over the years demonstrated unwavering commitment towards protection of environment and ensuring optimum utilization of natural resources. This has been done with the involvement of a number of stakeholders including the private sector, central and local governments as well as civil society organisations and international development partners.

Much has been achieved in the areas of environment protection and conservation, forestry, integrated water resources management, land use planning, meteorological services and mining. Policies, master plans, laws, ministerial orders and other strategic frameworks have been developed and, to a great extent, implemented with commendable results.

A number of interventions have been summoned to enhance Integrated Water Resources management, including implementation of the National Water Resources Master Plan as one of the first steps towards the translation of the national policy for Water Resources Management into concrete actions.

The GoR and the Netherlands embassy have jointly initiated a program named Water for Growth to support the Ministry in sustainable water resources management, allocation and equitable use.

Progress has been registered in the areas of observation and data/information collection with data on weather patterns collected in each District, availing historical weather data for Rwandans or others who could need

it for setting up sustainable long term infrastructures in any area of Rwanda.

To improve observations capacity, Meteo Rwanda acquired one C250P Doppler Weather Radar that primarily detects the hazardous wind shear weather system that is prevalent at Kigali International Airport but also monitors other weather phenomena in the air space over Rwanda and beyond.

In 2011, Rwanda introduced a Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy with 14 programmes of action.

This strategy is ensuring that the environment is part of every policy, strategy and decision the government makes.

The GoR has been responsive to the effects of climate change whose insidious effects are affecting all forms of livelihoods. In 2014, the Government launched Fund for Environment and Climate Change (FONERWA—which started operating in October 2012) as an engine of green growth in the country and to help finance public and private environment and climate change adaptation and mitigation projects.

Since its inception, the Fund has mobilised for current and future financing needs for environment, climate change and green growth in order to accelerate goals of national sustainable economic development and enabling technological transfer. A wide range of development areas, including Natural Resources and Ecosystem Management, Waste Management and Renewable Energy investments, promoting Rwanda’s green economy through investment and employment have all been tackled.

We are as well committed to supporting, implementing and meeting targets on international commitments that relate to the environment, including the Montreal Protocol. Rwanda’s outstanding contribution to the preservation of the Ozone Layer earned the country the 2012 Ozone Protection Award from the Ozone Secretariat of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Rwanda is now implementing the Hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs) Management Plan. A 30 percent phase down of HCFCs was achieved by 2015 and a total phase out is expected by 2020.

In conclusion, I need to emphasize that Rwanda is committed to sustainable development, working towards reducing pressure on natural resources, particularly on land, water, biomass and biodiversity and the process of environmental pollution and degradation reversed.

We are a nation in which the management and protection of environment are more rational and well-regulated in order to bequeath to future generations the basic wealth necessary for sustainable development.

We are pleased as a nation that our efforts to protect our natural heritage are showing good results and look forward to continue working with all Rwandans and other partners to realise our goal of Rwanda becoming a low carbon economy by 2050.

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Environment protection and climate change resilience occupy high-table position on Rwanda’s development agenda For more than a decade, Rwanda has placed environment protection and conservation at the centre of the country’s socio-economic transformation. These efforts have resulted into a strong institutional and policy framework, allowing the country to develop in a way that is clean and green and that builds resilience to climate change. The protection and management of environment are among the pillars of Vision 2020. The objective of the Government is that by 2020 the pressure on natural resources, particularly on land, water, biomass and biodiversity, will be significantly reduced and the process of environmental pollution and degradation reversed.

Rwanda needs to be a nation in which the management and protection of these resources and environment are more rational and well regulated in order to preserve and bequeath to future generations the basic wealth necessary for sustainable development.

Although Rwanda has one of the world’s lowest per capita emissions of greenhouse gases, it is highly vulnerable to the impacts of temperature and rainfall changes due to climate change.

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Environmental Regulation and Pollution Control

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n order to increase capacities in coping up with climate change, a lot of measures have been put in place to reduce green gases emissions and mitigate the climate change impacts. The Law N° 18/2016 of 18/05/2016 governing the preservation of air quality and prevention of air pollution in Rwanda published in May 2016 and the adoption of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol in October 2016, serve as some of important tools to create awareness among Rwandans on air pollution control, causes and impact of climate change and implementation of the national strategy on climate change and low carbon development strategy and its 14 programmes of action.

A baseline air quality by Rema completed in 2017 december a study on air pollution in Rwanda with reference to Kigali city and vehicular emissions was done with the objective of developing a solid understanding of air quality in Rwanda and to develop a related strategy and policy recommendations to address the pollution issues. The assessment focused on pollutants resulting from vehicular emission and other industrial activities in cities according to the World Health Organisation standards.

The Rwanda air quality and climate change monitoring project is funded by FONERWA and jointly implemented by REMA and MINEDUC. Instruments to continuously monitor levels of air pollutants have been installed at Nyabugogo, Meteo Rwanda headquarters, Gatsibo , Nyamagabe, and Mugogo (Nyabihu district). A set of eight more air quality monitors is in tender process, now at the stage of bid evaluation Two instruments that analyse the composition, therefore, sources of particulates have been received.

One which measures the detailed composition is in operation at the University of Rwanda college of

Tree planting has been immensely emphasized, involing institutions and communities

Science and Technology and another which measures particles emitted by combustion (black carbon) will be installed at Meteo Rwanda headquarters.

An Air quality reference station which will be used to calibrate the rest of the equipment as well as providing more accurate measurements of air pollutants has been purchased, the first shipment will be received on February 16th and 17th, 2018 while the final shipment is expected in April, 2018.

The air quality monitoring system is already operational and providing data, even though all equipment will be fully installed by May 2018.

In December 2013 the then Ministry of Natural Resources in partnership with Rwanda National Police launched a campaign to control vehicle emissions and machines using petroleum products, a move aimed at preventing air pollution at an early stage.

Development and implementation of Rwanda’s National Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy Adopted in 2011, Rwanda’s National Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS) has 14 programs of actions including Sustainable Intensification of small scale farming; agricultural diversity of markets; sustainable land use management; integrated water resource management; low carbon energy grid; small-scale energy access in rural areas; disaster management and disease prevention; green industry and private sector development; climate compatible mining, resilient transport systems; low carbon urban systems; ecotourism, conservation and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES); sustainable forestry; agroforestry and biomass; climate data and projections.

Aforestation programs

have been

implemented countrywide

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performance.

Green Economy Indicators are being reviewed to ensure appropriate monitoring and evaluation of the desired results and impact.

Mainstreaming of the Green Economy into the EDPRSII Environment protection programmes have been integrated in various institutional development programmes.

The Environment and Natural Resources sector has elaborated and disseminated the guidelines for the implementation of the GGCRS and its programmes of actions and shared them with all sectors.

These include the guidelines for environment and climate change management, Guidelines for environment and climate change mainstreaming into the Public investment, the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) guidelines among others. The green city concept and guidelines have been developed and shared with the Housing Authority for implementation and the Rwanda National Roadmap for the development of green secondary cities development have been launched in May 2016and costing Green Growth of the Energy, Agriculture and Water sectors done.

A number of climate resilient and low carbon projects implementing the National Green Growth and 8

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Climate Resiliency Strategy have been developed and implemented.

The Green Model Village concept has been developed and implemented in 8 green model villages with about 1,000 households completed (Gashaki, Rubaya, Muyebe I and II, Rusizi, Kabyaza, Rugarama Rweru, Taba, Rukumberi) for the people relocated from marshlands and high risk zones.

Natural Capital Accounting Natural Capital Accounting framework for Rwanda is being developed under support of the World Bank for incorporation in national economic planning policy. Today the Rwanda Natural Capital Accounting Project has developed the natural accounts for land, water and minerals. These Natural Capital Accounts can inform the national planning process for sustainable development by providing indicators and trend analysis to track

The Environmental mainstreaming guidelines and checklists for use in different sectors have been prepared and shared with 15 Sector Ministries, Provinces and Districts. The 15 Sector Ministries Planners, Provinces and Districts Officers were trained on these guidelines and checklists and Climate Change as well as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

All Sectors (15) have complied and integrated environment and climate change in their plans and programs and 30 districts mainstreamed environmental issues in their annual performance contracts.

Different trainings were conducted in High Learning Institutions and TVETs Environmental Education for Sustainable development (EESD) and how this can be implemented in their institutions.

20 Higher Learning Institutions trained on (EESD) and environmental clubs from these Higher Learning Institutions have developed action plans for implementation. Among the trained are 27 staff from REB and WDA, TVET schools and 37 from IPRCs as well as 68 TVETs Instructors and Lecturers from Southern, Western, Northern, Eastern Provinces and City of Kigali IPRCs were on ESSD integration in their curricula.

Climate adaptation project (RV3CBA)

The Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in North West Rwanda

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through Community Based Adaptation (RV3CBA) is a Project under Rwanda Water and Forest Authority, and operating in Nyabihu and Musanze Districts.

The project is based on principles of local empowerment and implemented by grassroots organisations such as farmer groups, community based organisations and local NGOs with the support of Local Government and Project Implementation Unit.

Through RV3CBA Project, 7,992 people (3,704 Male & 4,288 Female) grouped in 50 groups and 12 youth groups have been trained on adaptation planning processes, forestry management, watersheds management, post-harvest and storage techniques and land management.

200 families that lived in high-risk zones in Nyabihu District have been relocated to Kabyaza model Green Village inaugurated in December 2016.

Progressive and bench terraces have been made on 330 hectares for erosion control and flood mitigation in Mugogo marshland. Bamboo and agroforestry trees have been also planted on river bank and lake shores on 25 hectares.

3613 local residents grouped in 130 cooperatives employed by the project have been also linked with SACCOs to increase access to existing credit facilities for green new jobs creation.

Environment Protection and Climate Change Fund

These projects are also developing communities and supporting Rwandans as they work to improve their livelihoods. Through the Green Fund-supported projects, about 90, 000 green jobs have been created, 21,847 hectares of land reforested, 17,449 families connected to off-grid clean energy across the country and 12,998 hectares of watersheds and water bodies restored.

Through FONERWA support 760 hectares of Nyabarongo catchment have been rehabilitated with progressive terraces

Ecosystems rehabilitation and biodiversity strategy Ruhondo, Burera, Ruhondo, Mugesera and Rweru, Karago Lakes were rehabilitated and their buffer zones protected. A 5-year project under REMA “Supporting Ecosystem Rehabilitation and Protection for Pro-Poor Green Growth Program” (SERPG) that aims to preserve the country’s natural resources and boost its green economy was launched in 2014 in Bugesera for the rehabilitation of Cyohoha Lake and water hyacinth cleaning on 230 hectares. The project employs local residents to remove the water hyacinth plant form the lake and protect its buffer zone. Through the same project local communities were taught how to use water hyacinth removed from the lake to produce compost and other products and make handcrafts.

The Rweru-Mugesera wetlands complex was rehabilitated under support of the Lake Victoria Environment Management Project Phase 2 (LVEMP2) and today this wetland complex is in process to be designated as a RAMSAR Site.

The rehabilitation of Mount Rubavu by levelling the steep slopes into horizontal terraces for soil erosion control and planting Ornamental tree varieties like Jacaranda on these terraces has stimulated the economy by creating in the area a second tourist attraction to complement Lake Kivu.

A forest landscape restoration program under the Landscape Approach for Forest Restoration and Conservation (LFREC) project worth 9,5 M USD is under implementation in the Western Province for Forest-friendly and climate-resilient restoration of Gishwati-Mukura landscape.

The main component of this project include the Upgrading and sustainable management of Gishwati and Mukura Forest Reserve, forest restoration and land husbandry in the GishwatiMukura landscape, sustainable and resilient livelihoods; flood forecasting and preparedness among others.

The project employs local residents and more than 400 hectares of farm land were planted with agroforestry trees while more than 300 hectares of the forest land have been planted with indigenous species.

In 2012, the National Fund for Environment and Climate Change (FONERWA) was established by the law Nº16/2012 of 22/05/2012 and officially launched in October 2014.

Over the last three years, the Fund has mobilised about US $100 million for climate resilience initiatives. To date, the fund has approved 32 investments that help Rwanda reduce its carbon footprint and adapt to a warmer planet.

The funding of these projects totals to an amount of Rwf28.9 billion Rwandan Francs.

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Rwanda’s development, prosperity hinges on green growth, climate change resilience REMA has the mandate of national environmental protection, conservation, promotion and overall management, including offering advisory services to the government on all matters pertinent to the environment and climate change. THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, ENGINEER COLETHA U. RUHAMYA gives an insight into how Rwanda, through its policies, laws and regulations, has made environment protection a key priority and a centre of its efforts in the quest for building a green, sustainable development.

Institutional and policy frameworks that have been established to ensure proper and sustainable harvesting from nature

T

he Rwanda Government’s commitment to sustainable harvesting from the environment, prompted the creation of a Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production Center (RECPC) in 2008 to support the industrial sector productivity, competitiveness and environmental performance by using fewer resources to produce more products and less waste. Industries, hotels and other major resource users have benefited from initiatives by the Center in facilitating the efficient use of water, electricity and best waste management practices.

Efforts have been made to promote resource efficiency using Reduce, Recycle and Reuse principle. The private sector has been encouraged to invest in waste management and currently, a number of private companies are involved in plastic waste recycling, to 10 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

produce other useful materials.

At household level, the Government of Rwanda developed the Rain water harvesting program to ensure efficient and sustainable use of water resources.

The rainwater harvesting loan scheme, which is a Public-Private Partnership scheme aims to facilitate local communities get financial support to acquire rain water harvesting systems.

Through Integrated Development Plan (IDP), Model Villages / Green villages have been established whereby settlements are built with a whole range of environmental friendly facilities including but not limited to clean energy (from hydro, solar and biogas) and water harvesting facilities among others. These villages are built to maximise efficiency (water, energy, hygiene and sanitation, …).

Green villages have led to significant improvement in quality of life for people who dwell in them because the homes are inhabited by families that have been relocated from high risk zones, thus reducing vulnerability to climate change. Schools have been a key focus of environmental protection with Greening schools concept introduced in school programs. The concept integrates efforts to make schools environmentally healthier and get the whole community participating in finding solutions to the environment and sustainability issues that they are confronted with.

Examples includewater harvesting, sanitation tree planting and separation of wastes at generation points etc In conjunction with MINEDUC, REMA has been training teachers and students and supporting these initiatives to be scaled up further.

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Through the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) and the Rwanda Energy Group (REG), the Government is also promoting the use of renewable energy (Hydro and Solar energy, biogas and light petroleum gas, among others) coupled with the use of less energy consuming cooking stoves, energy saving lights and solar water heaters.

Keeping the eco-equilibrium Rwanda’s sustainable development and green growth efforts have attracted the attention and praise of other countries who have adopted the same.This was made possible because of the country’s commitment to ensure sustainable resource utilisation and environment protection to achieve sustainable development while keeping ecological equilibrium..

The country’s flagship Vision 2020 recognizes the three principles of a Green Economy: social cohesion, economic empowerment and environmental stewardship. The three principles contribute heavily to the country’s achievement of the aspiration to become a middle income and knowledge-based economy by 2020.

To concretize the Vision 2020, Rwanda

has put in place the Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy as one of the initial steps on a pathway expected to drive a sustainable, secure future where Rwanda is prepared for the risks associated with climate change, population growth and rising oil prices.

This strategy aims to build upon work that is already being done in Rwanda on climate change, focusing the various projects and policies into a holistic national document which encompasses long-term direction and short-term actions. The strategy outlines Rwanda’s national environmental vision: For Rwanda to be a developed climateresilient, low-carbon economy by 2050.

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES); sustainable forestry; agroforestry and biomass; climate data and projections.

The Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy lays ground for the country’s priorities with its 14 programs of actions for different sectors. These include Sustainable intensification of small scale farming; agricultural diversity of markets; sustainable land use management; integrated water resource management; low carbon energy grid; small-scale energy access in rural areas; disaster management and disease prevention; green industry and private sector development; climate compatible mining, resilient transport systems; low carbon urban systems; ecotourism, conservation and

First, the involvement of community is key if policies and strategies are to be implemented effectively. This has been done by always identifying the problems, key stakeholders and later on determining which role every individual in the community can play in environment protection. Consultation meetings have been carried out to plan how these strategies are going to be implemented and monitoring and evaluation done.

Rwanda’s sustainable development and green growth efforts are winning praise from around the world. Many countries, from both across Africa and further afield, are looking to the land of a thousand hills to draw inspiration as they seek to build green economies.

Mobilization of local communities into understanding and embracing environment protection and conservation programs

The community has also been mobilised through sensitisation programs on radios TV’s, newspapers,

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environmental clubs, community gatherings etc. All these channelsare used to educate the population about their roles in environmental protection at at different levels.

Establishing Early Warning System, to prevent and create Disaster Resilience Capacities REMA partnered with international, governmental and non-governmental institutions to install an Early Warning and Disaster Preparedness Systems to support Rwanda Meteorological Agency in providing real time weather forecasts and warnings.

REMA established a modern and fully functional Early Warning System (EWS) and necessary human capacity and institutional mechanisms have been created to support the system.Some of the installed modern meteorological facilities include 22 Automatic Weather Stations (installed across the country) and a cluster computerwhich processes real-time meteorological information 12 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

and sends out warnings in case of eminent risks. Information generated through the system helps leaders to take informed decisions and is shared with stakeholders for actions while communities receive regular telephone short messages (SMS) for their action.

Through the Landscape Approach to Forest Restoration and Conservation (LAFREC) Project, REMA also established an early warning system targeting the highly vulnerable Gishwati area communities.

The Green Growth initiatives Rwanda has put environment protection and sustainable resources utilisation at the core of its quest to development. The country’s flagship Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy preparedRwanda to handle the risks associated with climate change.

The 14 programmess of action in the strategy help to track the progress of sectors in accordance to the implementation. REMA involves all

stakeholders to get their inputs and plans for the sector and later engages the stakeholders in high-level dialogues where they present progress reports.

Since the adoption of the Strategy, the Government of Rwanda has been working to mainstream climate resilience and low carbon development across key sectors of the economy.

Investments have been made to promote green and renewable energy (large scale and off-grid solar, hydro and waste to energy, biogas, gas, green technologies, resource efficiency and cleaner production technologies in industries, sustainable mining as well as green homes and green villages, sustainable transport and low carbon emission technologies, among others, have been the key focus of the Government.

Some of the notable projects include the 8.5 MW solar power plant in Rwamagana District, the Methane Gas extraction in lake Kivu (generating 25

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been largely embraced by Rwandans because it has infiltrated households and industries alike, improving them in terms of efficient use of energy and productivity.

Rwanda is also investing in increasing forest cover- with an ambitious target of increasing forest cover to 30% of the country’s total surface by 2020 from a baseline of 10% in 2000 (now the country’s cover is estimated at over 29%, an indication that the target will be easily achieved).

Addressing challenges REMA has made great steps forward as evidenced by the increased understanding of the importance of environmental protection by all sectors.

They make plans in accordance with environmental protection policies and laws.

megawatts of energy) and the many green villages introduced accross the country to demonstrate how integrated sustainable natural resource management can help reduce poverty, enhance environmental sustainability, empower communities and improve quality of life (The villages integrate greening components such as rainwater harvesting system and waste treatment systems that provides biogas energy for cooking and fertilizers to boost agricultural yields for residents. Every house in the green villages is also connected to electricity).

In addition, Rwanda has established a Green Fund (FONERWA) which supports best public and private projects that have the potential for transformative change and that support Rwanda’s commitment to building a green economy. The fund has mobilised over $100 million to date and is a leading example of the impact that wellmanaged climate financing can have.

The concept of green growth has

There has been raised awareness of the roles every stakeholder has to play in conserving the environment. This is because sensitisation programs in communities have been conducted to this effect.

A number of implemented projects like the banning of plastic bags have helped conserve the environment. This homegrown solution has been adopted by a number of countries.

Despite the efforts by the Government to conserve the environment, there have been incidences of poor attitudes towards the policies being implemented. However, sensitisation programs have been emphasized.

Although Implementation of some projects has been marred by individual self interests e.g those compromising the wetlands. Re-enforcement of the laws in place has been done and plans to improve on the laws are underway.

Private Sector Involvement Environmental Conservation

in

The private sector is a key partner of what the Government intends to achieve in terms of green growth and

development. A number of private organisations have been invited to take part in various initiatives like forest management.

The Private Sector also supports the country through investment in the promotion of green energy and technologies, resource efficiency and the reduction of air emission and greenhouse gases, among others.

The sustainable utilisation of resources, promotion of green homes, green and sustainable transport, green cities, waste management and recycling, are other areas in which the Private Sector is heavily involved.

Major Partners REMA works with different partners and stakeholders, including the public and Private Sector, UN agencies & international organisations, nongovernmental organisations, the civil society, private sector and communities at large promote environmental stewardship.

Given the transboundary nature of environmental issues, Rwanda also partners with other countries (in the regional and worldwide) in finding sustainable solutions to current challenges including the effects of climate change.

The Future REMA is working towards strengthening the country’s resilience to climate change and air pollution control, Air Quality monitoring, pollutants monitoring and environment education and mainstreaming.

Other activities will also focus on the continued promotion of green and clean energy, green cities and villages, capacity building for communities and stakeholders, waste management (especially e-waste), research and strengthening partnerships with other institutions, organisations and the public to ensure sustainable resources utilisation and a healthy environment.

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Managing water resources for development Integrated Water Resources Management

F

rom west to East Rwanda is divided into two major drainage basins: The Congo Basin to the west which covers 33 per cent and handles 10 % of all national waters and the Nile Basin to the east covering 67 per cent and delivering 90 per cent of the national waters Rwanda is endowed with a dense hydrological network comprising of numerous small rivers, streams and wetlands that drain into lakes and other water reservoirs.

The water resources availability per capita per year in Rwanda is estimated at 670 m3 (National Water Resources Master Plan, 2015) which is less than the minimum threshold of 1,000 m3/capita as per the widely used Water Stress Index.

The country receives average annual precipitation of 1200mm and the rainfall ranges from as low as 800mm in Eastern Province to about 2000mm in high altitude of north and west.

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Surface water bodies in Rwanda occupy a total of 135,000 Ha or about 8% of the country’s surface area. These include 101 lakes (1,495 km2), 861 rivers totaling 6,462 Km and a network of disconnected wetlands. At least 3 of the largest lakes are shared - Lake Kivu (shared with DRC), Lake Cyohoha south and Lake Rweru (shared with Burundi). The inland lakes are sustained by inflows from the dense network of rivers, streams and wetlands. Rwanda counts a total of about 860 wetlands covering a total area of 278 536 ha, corresponding to 10.6 per cent of the total country surface.

Ground water resources in Rwanda are estimated to discharge about 66 m3/ second and about 22,000 sources have been recognized. Extensive borehole drilling and shallow well construction have been done countrywide and at least 757 boreholes and wells have been recorded across country. Although

groundwater is deemed safer than surface water, increasing pollution from agro-inputs (through leaching and erosion), and declining ability of ecosystems to naturally purify water, raise quality concerns while this water source accounts for 86% of safe drinking water supply for rural areas that depend on boreholes.

Management of water resources for development The pressure on water resources primarily results from utilising the natural resources to meet basic needs as well as social-economic development.

Three key sector, agriculture, domestic and industries are the big water consumers.

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resources into economic productivity and improved livelihoods. But, even if the overall pressure on renewable water is not currently an issue for most river catchments in the country, there is a considerable risk that it will become a problem in numerous catchments over the coming twenty to thirty years for a wide range of plausible growth projections. Although physical water scarcity is not a problem at present, policymakers are well aware of the fact that it will probably become one shortly. Therefore, this requires water managers to adopt innovative approaches to manage the water resources equitably and sustainably (NCA, 2017) Water for domestic use

Managing water resources for agriculture According to the 2016 annual report, it is estimated that about 70% of the country’s annual freshwater use is consumed by agriculture sector and is expected to grow up to about 80% of total water demand by 2020. Connecting this to the government of Rwanda drive of increasing irrigation areas from 18,000 Ha in 2010 up to 100,000 Ha in 2017 for a total of 589,000Ha irrigable land, it appears that agriculture sector will continue to be the big user of water resources. The estimates show that to irrigate 100,000 Ha will require water inflows of about 286,000 cubic meters and this implies that any increase in irrigated agriculture will also increase the pressure on water resources.

However, Rwanda’s current water utilization for agriculture is less than 2% of available fresh water resources and increasing the irrigated area is a positive development as it transforms

In the last two decades, the Government of Rwanda has distinguished itself in achieving water and sanitation targets.

Access to improved drinking water has improved from 44% in 2005 up to 85% in 2015 while access to sanitation increased from 38% in 2005 up to 83.8% in 2015. Disaggregated into urban and rural sectors, statistics show that access to improved drinking water is fixed at 90 % in urban areas and 83.7 in rural areas by 2015. Projections show also that the current water demand in the City of Kigali is estimated at 120,000 m3 per day while the production capacity is estimated at 90,000 m3 per day.

Given that EDPRS 2 as well as the 7-year Government aspirations set to achieve 100% access to water and

sanitation by 2017 which implies 600, 000 new connections per year, if this is combined with increasing livestock water needs related to Girinka programme, it looks that more water resource for domestic use will be drawn from natural environment and a combined effort is need to render water sources protected and more safe to consumption.

Water for industries During the last five years, the Rwanda industry sector has grown remarkably and is projected to continue to grow in the next ten years, given the country’s emphasis on value addition to local production. In the Rwanda’s fastest growing industry-coffee industry, at least 30 m3 is required to produce one tone of fully washed coffee. Similarly, other industrial users such as bottled water and fruit processors, abattoirs, mineral processing, leather tanning and textiles will need more water to operate adequately. On the other hand, available resources will be affected by industrial production due to pollution since many of Rwanda’s industries do not have efficient waste treatment facilities in place and that the resulting poorly treated effluent will ends up in rivers, lakes and marchlands.

Therefore, a management approach that acts on reducing both water consumption and harmful environmental impacts while increasing profitable growth is need for perspective of sustainable growth.

Paddy irrigation will remain the big water resources consumer

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Nyabugogo and Muvumba, the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project(LVEMPII) under REMA intervening in Upper and Lower Nyabarongo catchments, the Climate Adaptation Project being implemented in Nyabihu and Musanze Districts and other afforestation projects under the Water and Forestry Authority.

Matching demand and supply

Effort to meet access to drinking water will have drawn more water resources

Managing water and catchment protection, conservation and preservation Rwanda’s natural water resource is under increasing pressure due to population growth, urbanization and the country’s aspiration for development and this in addition to a serious degradation of water resources due to human activities (unsustainable agriculture and mining, deforestation) which makes our surface water resources highly silted and this becoming a serious constraint for some socio-economic development initiatives mainly through hydropower development and access to domestic water supply.

In order to ensure a sustainable water resources management a National Water Resources Management Master Plan was developed and approved in 2015 under which the country was sub-divided into 9 level one catchments and appropriate specific management measures for each catchment are being elaborated and these including protection, conservation, safeguarding and rational use of water resources.

Various institutions have been put in place at both central and decentralized levels for a proper management of water resources notably the National water consultative commission which is a high level policy organ with the mandate to guide any plan or program related to water resources management and development and assisted by a technical Inter-ministerial committee.

In order to ensure a sustainable and rational water use, a Ministerial Order NÂş002/16.01 of 24/05/2013 determining the procedure for declaration, authorization and concession for the utilizations of water was put in place and this requires that any abstraction of water resources for any activity like irrigation, hydropower, fish farming, mining other than domestic activities, has to have a permit to use water. The concerned water uses that are subject to water use permits include hydropower plants, irrigation schemes of above 1 ha, water treatment plants, industries abstracting water directly from surface water or underground, mineral washing and fish farming in lakes and ponds.

In the same context, water allocations plans using appropriate modeling tools are being developed for most of the catchments starting with the most water scarce mainly Muvumba and Akagera catchments.

To be able to monitor the fluctuation of water resources, advanced automated water monitoring stations have been installed on various rivers and lakes.

The place for water harvesting in the National water management system Rain water harvesting (RWH) is used as an alternative source of water which helps to meet ever increasing and conflicting water demands for human needs, socioeconomic development as well as environmental protection.

Depending on the location and the availability of alternative water resources, RWH becomes the cheapest option locally available. RWH techniques are used as exclusive or as complementary supply source for economic activities in the form of hill side irrigation, cattle watering and for industrial processes.

At decentralized level, water management committees are in place at each District and recently Task Forces bringing together the Districts sharing one catchment have been introduced.

In order the reverse the current water resources degradation trends and ensure an integrated water resources management approach as adopted by the National policy for water resources management and its implementation strategic plan, various programs and projects are being implemented in various catchments country wide and these include the Water for Growth Program funded by the Kingdom of Netherlands and implemented by the Rwanda Water and Forestry Authority with its main interventions in Upper Nyabarongo, Sebeya, 16 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

Picture showing gabions constructed on Rwebeya river to reduce flooding

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

However, following to the prolonged droughts that affected the Eastern Province last year and taking into account that RWH can be a tool to cope with drought; the project has been now extended to some Districts of the Eastern province namely Kayonza, Gatsibo and Nyagatare.

Key partners in water resources management.

At National level, the key stakeholders in water resources management and development are MININFRA, MINAGRI, MINADEF, MINICOM, MINEDUC as well as their affiliated Agencies.

Various development partners are also involved in water resources management and development mainly the Kingdom of Netherlands, World Bank, AfDB, KOICA, USAID, EU, JICA, GIZ, etc.

Communities works with different partners for the rehabilitation of Upper Nyabarongo catchment

According to EICV4, 2013/2014 the proportion of households using rainwater as the main drinking water source is 0.2% for both urban and rural households against 2% for urban and 0.4% for rural households in EICV3, 2010/2011.The highest rate is 0.6% for the Western Province and the lowest is 0% for Kigali City and the Southern Province.

On the other side, rainwater harvesting is one of the mechanisms to control floods in flood prone areas by the fact that these rainwater harvesting systems being those at household level or the in-situ rainwater harvesting systems like ponds and dams reduce the volume of direct surface run off after rainfall. It is even in this context that the Rwanda Water and Forestry Authority is piloting a project since 2013 under the funding of FONERWA with the main goal being to support people to access RWH tanks through a loan and subsidy scheme in some Districts that are the most vulnerable to floods namely Nyabihu, Rubavu, Musanze, Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge.

Picture shows a modernized hydrometric station on Ntaruka to monitor the fluctuation of water level

Major achievements in Water resources management In terms of governance: • A National Water Resources Management Policy was adopted by Cabinet in 2012.

• A National Water Resources Master Plan was adopted

by Cabinet in 2015.

• A high level National Water Consultative Commission and its supporting Interministerial Committee were put in place and are operational; • A Water use permitting System was established and is operational • Rwanda has ratified the Nile Basin Cooperation Framework Agreement and initiate the framework for joint management of Lake Kivu and Rusizi Basin (ABAKIR) In terms of water resources protection and conservation: • More than 2200 ha of degraded watersheds rehabilitated over the past five years; • More than 6, 600 people were supported to access RWH systems through a loan and subsidy scheme • Catchment characterisation for Muvumba, Sebeya, Nyabugogo and upper Nyabarongo catchments has been completed.

In terms of water storage and floods control • A feasibility study and detailed design for a multipurpose dam on Muvumba river with a storage capacity of 35 Million cubic meters have been completed • An integrated plan for flood mitigation in City of Kigali has been elaborated • A study on volcano flood management in Northern part of the country has been completed • With support of various watershed projects, gabions and check dams have been constructed in lava region • A total volume of 36,779.5 m3 water storage capacity was reached through the RWH loan and subsidy scheme and the construction of water tanks on social and public buildings as well as grouped settlements totalized a volume of 3,050 m3 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 17

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Funding environmentally friendly projects for climate change resilience The Government of Rwanda is one of the few nations across the world with a national climate change and environment fund. ALEX MULISA the Coordinator of Fund for Environment and Climate Change (FONERWA) takes The New Times through the activities and achievements of the Fund.

I

A better conserved environment is good for habitation

n 2005 two institutions were provided for in the organic law on environment under article 65; the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) and the Rwanda Environment Fund.

REMA was set up as a regulatory body but the Fund took some time because at the time not much was understood about the relative importance of environment in development.

Later in 2009 a study on economics of climate change was conducted and whereof it was established that at least one percent per year of Rwanda’s GDP 18 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

is lost as a result of climate change. This changed the momentum and a Green Growth Climate Resilient Strategy was put in place in 2011 and was approved by the cabinet.

Within that, article 67 that provided for environment law, the fund for environment and climate change was resurrected and made operational to serve as a sustainable financing mechanism for the Green Growth and Climate Resilient Strategy. The design was carried out in 2012 and the fund was set up and started operation in

October of the same year.

In January 2013 it was capitalized with the government funds from Forestry and subsequently with significant funding from the International Climate Fund (ICF), UK’s Ministry of International Development that gave £22.5 million. From then on, FONERWA started calling for proposals.

Today FONERWA is in the ninth call for proposals and has provided funding to 35 projects that are currently being implemented around the country at a cost of Rwf 32 billion.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Forest management programs have been encouraged and supported

Funding criteria

The criteria for choosing who qualifies after calling for proposals are quite clear. We use an application process which is a two stage process. First we invite applicants through a call for proposals and we do screening for the projects and the criteria as laid down in the application process that they submit.

The most important aspect here is whether the project fulfills the conditions of FONERWA’s objectives that are environment and climate change as an addition to an otherwise normal project. So it must clearly demonstrate the environment and climate change benefits that it is going to provide.

It has to demonstrate value for money, must have elements of poverty reduction and economic growth which are the features that are captured in the EDPRS. So, much as it is environment and climate change, it also must demonstrate benefits that are relevant to the national strategy for development which is the EDPRS. Ultimately, FONERWA funding targets and must support achievement of Rwanda’s

sustainable development goals in which environment plays a central role.

The windows that guide applications are conservation, renewable energy and pollution management which is more attractive to the private sector and mainstreaming which considers some of the programs that start from policy, strategy to implementation to demonstrate that policy is working.

We have also conducted targeted calls for proposals for mainstreaming.

Whereas mainstreaming is part of what we encourage applicants to apply through our four windows, lessons learned has shown limited uptake through this window and therefore the rationale for the decision to serve a targeted call on it.

Once the project is screened based on the criteria, it transitions to the second stage of in-depth preparation of a full project document that outlines how results relevant to FONERWA will be monitored and evaluated, budgeting and demonstration of Value for Money (VfM) and sustainability and impact of the project to Rwanda’s sustainable growth and development.

Once the project is developed with

budgets demonstrating and outlining monitoring and evaluation, they are taken to subject matter specialists.

If it is an energy project, it goes to an energy subject matter specialist who has a country context and who not only understands the country context but also the relevant areas that have environment and climate change components.

It is then subjected to evaluation by the fund technical committee that looks and does the selection based on the criteria.

The fund technical committee is one of the governance levels of the fund and provides a strategic orientation with a view to identifying the appropriate projects for recommendation to the board for funding The projects selected for funding are posted on the FONERWA website for the purpose of transparency. With FONERWA identified as a sustainable financial mechanism for Green Growth Resilient Strategy which is a vision of how Rwanda will develop after 2050, it is imperative that the projects supported by the fund meet quality standards that live up to that ambition.

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES FONERWA

EDPRS

which seeks to implement the green model mining and green city Pilot to demonstrate green aspects such as green renewable energy supply, water efficient use and waste management at a scale. This is done with the view that lessons from the pilot will then positively influence the greater urbanization starting with secondary cities.

When FONERWA is approving a project, it critically considers what it would take to successfully implement the project in order to address the given program of action. So we believe that the funding mechanism is targeted to ensuring the development of green growth resilience strategy which is aligned with sector specific EDPRS priorities.

In addition to that, we have carried out portfolio analysis that scrutinizes the FONERWA 32 projects and how they have addressed the programs of action in the Green Growth Resilience Strategy.

Green Growth

In line with the Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), we identify areas for critical program implementation. The Green Growth as a whole has 14 programs of action that are implemented by various sectors of the economy including agriculture, infrastructure, urbanization, energy, to name a few.

So those alignments that build on the planning process are done to design the strategy that ensures financing of national priorities. In order to address EDPRS 2 priorities for example, the focus is being put to priority 5 of the economic transformation thematic area

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To date, FONERWA has provided funding through the Innovation Grant to Horizon, a real estate private company to carry out studies on what would be required to develop low Carbon construction materials, what kind of renewable energy components should be used in generation and efficiency, the centralized waste water management for that group of dwelling units and the road infrastructure.

It has thirteen hectares on which they are to build close to four hundred dwelling units which, from our perspective, is good as an initial phase to demonstrate the green city aspects.

So far detailed plans and designs have been completed and will inform a business plan in order to be able to begin construction and then

demonstrate how this initial phase will inform developments and the minimum conditions for property in the area of about 620 Ha for greening. With the broader project that will ultimately bring together investors in the area including community and commercial mixed neighbourhood, Rwanda will be able to demonstrate an exceptional green city pilot that will continually inform Rwanda’s greater urbanization.

There are discussions at the policy level, how that whole area of around six hundred acres is going to develop as a pilot green city and not only as an estate of 300 dwelling units and this will involve and attract investors in commercial centers, green schools and green clinics. Other investors like RSSB have a plot of land to build affordable houses within that area.

There is also the land formerly occupied by Radio Deutsche Welle in Kinyinya which will be developed to as an eco-friendly park to promote further tourism in the Kigali environs.

These concepts are being debated on in the whole continent but it has never been developed anywhere and we believe Rwanda is going to be the first to implement them

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES FONERWA

Capacities

FONERWA has a specific program of building capacities for people in local government to understand the concept of Green Growth and Climate Change Resilience. We started with a specific project of building capacity at local government. This strategy was crucial in improving access to FONERWA funds by Districts, in partnership with an international body, the Climate Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). One third of the Districts around the country are implementing FONEWRA funded projects as a result of this strategy.

In mainstreaming sectors are engaged in a way that green and climate resilience development is part and parcel of planning and implementation of growing sector priorities.

and , demonstrate , what we are doing through our website. We intend to do more traditional communication through local radios and newspapers

The Environment and Natural Resources Sector in its mainstreaming effort usually has to conduct high level meeting at the ministerial level in consultation with the development partners to be able to track progress of what has been happening in terms of implementing the green growth climate resilience strategy in different sectors.

The process of partnership to build and further develop capacities at the national level has continued to expand as we work with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an intergovernmental body that is primarily supporting two programmes, the secondary cities to develop as green cities and the support to build technical capacity of FONERWA.

We believe that there lies opportunity for capacity building in all these areas because even at the international level, green growth and climate resilience are concepts that are not very well understood and require high technical information and knowledge. Therefore every effort is being undertaken to build capacity to overcome these challenges.

In the implementation of the Green Growth Resilience Strategy, we consider two aspects; how projects can actually demonstrate and take on green and climate resilient features but most importantly the mainstreaming aspect.

Most of the communication about Most of the communication about FONERWA has been done very well through the web based mechanism, so more outsiders read our web-based content.

We post projects, ,call for proposals

We are a small team that is expected to work efficiently so we, some of the time, bring in communication experts to disseminate necessary messages to the concerned parties. We know we need to do more of the soft areas of communication and knowledge management and packaging messages for effective dissemination. We are seen more as a technical institution dealing with technical issues but we are growing very fast to see that these issues are well understood at national and international levels.

Most of the funding currently comes from international sources. This still constitutes over 90% of the direct funds flow to FONERWA. It is widely believed that there are ample opportunities to tap into the domestic resources through environmental related fines and fees and other sources such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes. This will be crucial to the growth of the fund.

With better understanding of FONERWA objectives, the beneficiaries

More Communication

Addressing challenges

FONERWA-funded projects have elements of poverty reduction and economic growth GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 21

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Integrated water resources management occupies a high table position among FONERWA- funded projects

we support have enormously improved the standards of the proposals that we get as opposed to how we started.

So we have seen more growth in the way people understand the Fund and we hope that we shall continue to build on the few scores to take it further to another level.

The development partners that we have today include DFID, the Germany Government, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank (WB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the CDKN and the GGGI.

Private sector involvement

We do involve the private sector through our windows that mainly target the 22 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

private sector through the innovation grant which provides $300,000 per project to be able to carry out research and development, proof of concept and demonstrate that technology works and how they get to the level of a business venture.

After getting to this level of a business venture, we provide credit that is managed through the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) who are in a position to manage loans. BRD condusts due diligence after evaluating that the proposal meets the technical requirements of FONERWA. The commercial projects that demonstrate environmental and climate change benefits receive loans at reduced interest rate of about 11.45 % which is well below the market rate.

We are also looking at the potential to expand and diversify our financial instruments to be able to cater for the market at any time and therefore ensure more robust participation of stakeholders.

I would want to emphasize that FONERWA is a national fund for everyone in Rwanda which they should use to their advantage but to also to market it because it is through that marketing that we are able to attract resources that facilitate us to do more.

Takeaways and way forward When we are dealing with sustainable development issues, the areas of environment and climate change, it should be well understood that we will make every effort to provide the technical capacity for people to implement successful projects.

Funds are distributed to Government, private sector, civil society and communities to implement a range of projects. It important to consider that the fund is accessed through a competitive process, if we are going to implement quality results that produce sustainable growth and development impacts for the sake of present and future generations.

The climate change landscape is extremely competitive with about $392 billion available globally towards addressing the challenge. So how does Rwanda position itself to tap into those vast opportunities using its National Fund as a critical vehicle?

removal of water hyacinth for better accessibilty and use

This is a question for you and I to understand and guide how the fund can grow and continually evolve to meet Rwanda’s development and prosperity ambition. This will require remaining competitive at a global level which will require a keen focus on implementing quality projects and demonstrating results and impacts. That is what FONERWA has been doing and will continue to seek to accelerate to meet Rwanda’s green growth aspirations.

GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 23

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Meteorological Services for Development

R

learning at the Kigali Meteorology station

wanda is located within the equatorial belt; its climate is strictly not of the equatorial rainy type. It has a modified humid climate including rainy forest and Savannah types. The central and eastern part of the country is generally of semi-arid type owing to its position in the rainy shadow of the western highlands.

The rainfall characteristics for Rwanda are known to exhibit large temporal and spatial variation due to varied topography and existence of large water bodies near the country. However, two rainy seasons are generally distinguishable, one centered on March – May and the other around October – December. Temporal variability of the rainfall in some occasions has resulted in extreme events such as the floods of 1997/98 El-Niño phenomena and frequent droughts that have far reaching socio-economic impacts to the country.

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The warmest annual average temperatures are found in the eastern low lying (20 - 21°C) and Bugarama Valley (23 - 24°C), and cooler temperatures in higher elevations of the central plateau (17.5 - 19°C) and highlands (less than 17°C).

Temperatures vary little throughout the year.

Rwanda experiences a bimodal pattern of rainfall, which is driven primarily by the progression of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ follows the annual progression of the sun as it goes to the Northern Summer when the sun crosses the equator around March 21, and the Southern Summer around September 23 each year.

The maximum rainfall seasons occur over March, April and May (MAM) and in September, October, November and December (SOND).

About Meteorological in Rwanda

Rwanda Meteorology Agency (Meteo Rwanda) is a Government Agency under the Environment and Natural Resources sector with legal personality, administrative and financial autonomy.

The ultimate goal of Meteo Rwanda is to provide weather, water and climate information services for safety of life and property and socio-economic development.

In Rwanda, observations of rainfall and temperature were established in the 1930s but the first station was installed at Save in 1906.

The Rwanda Meteorology Service was created in 1963 and in 1968 Meteo Rwanda was established as the main coordinator of meteorological services in the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA).

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

By then, Meteo Rwanda had no legal framework. Later in 2011, Rwanda Meteorological Service was transformed into Rwanda Meteorology Agency (Meteo Rwanda) by the government law No. 54 bis/2011 of December 2011, which was gazetted in the Official Gazette No. 54 of January 2012.

In July 2015, Rwanda Meteorology Agency was transferred from MININFRA to the Environment and Natural Resources Sector.

The Modernization of Meteorological Stations Network

Rwanda Meteorology Agency is the authorized government institution to establish meteorological stations across the country, to identify each climatic zone monitor such characteristics of and use them towards national development.

Meteo Rwanda has introduced the new technology in data collection, transmission, archiving and sharing this include: • Operationalization of new Climate Data Base Management Software (CLIMSOFT), • Ground satellite receivers (Improved Climate Data availability, Access, and use through Merged SatelliteGauge dataset and Climate Maprooms

The Radar has also a component of enhance guidance for air traffic control and cloud seeding Operation (aircraft icing, turbulence and detection ofupdraft for cloud seeding).

Satellite Receivers

Meteo Rwanda acquired ground satellite receivers systems namely PUMA, MESA for environment Monitoring, and SYNERGY which helped to enhance weather forecasting services for early warning products development.

Improved Climate Data availability, Access, and use through Merged Satellite-Gauge dataset and Climate Maprooms

Automatic Weather Stations for timely information gathering

Meteo Rwanda has a network of 304 meteorological stations across the country representing each district from which some are fully functional automated for observations data recording and transmissions. These include 41 automatic weather stations, 98 automatic raingaugesstations distributed across the country. There other very important weather stations including 13 agro synoptic stations, , 65 manned climatological stations and 68 manned rainfall stations.

Doppler Weather Radar

modern meteorological equipment installed to support weather data collection

Commissioned in June 2015 the Doppler Weather Radar was installed in Maranyundo, Bugesera District to ensure the generation of accurate and timely weather observations which are the essential inputs in numerical weather prediction models for weather forecasting.

The main purpose of the Doppler weather radar is primarily to detect low level wind shear phenomena at both the KigaliInternational Airport and the proposed New Bugesera International Airport. The Radar provides images of instantaneous rainfall intensity distribution over large areas.

The Doppler Weather radar producesaccurate rainfall measurements and short term now casting. It also has a clear air wind (e.g. Sea Breeze) and wind shear detection that are used in aviation sector and construction of wind power plant.

The Radar also provide enhanced and accurate severe weather detection (hail, Strong winds, lightening & snow) that are used in providing early warning messages for disaster risk reduction and preparedness.

Besides its climate database from different weather observations records, Rwanda Meteorology Agency in partnership with The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, under different partners like USAID/ CCAFS/CIAT and UNEP; produced a new dataset by merging satellite/reanalysis data with its station observations to fill gaps in both space and time at high resolution of 4 km by 4 Km grid.

The new dataset has been foundation of development of various products to serves specific sector’s needs and requirements and creation of Climate Maprooms web portal GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 25

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

which is a platform of a collection of maps and other figures that monitor climate and societal conditions at present and in the recent past. It includes products for Climate Analysis (Climatology), Climate Monitoring (Comparison of current situation with the recent past years), Climate Forecast (Seasonal Forecast), Climate for Health Products (Climate Suitability for Malaria Transmission), and Climate for Agriculture Products tailored to agricultural user needs(Onset/planting dates, Cessation of seasonal rainfall, Seasonal rainfall amount, number of seasonal dry spells, probability of exceedance of seasonal rainfall amount, etc).

The Climate Maprooms is available online and updated regularly at ten day basis for climate monitoring and can be accessed athttp://maproom.meteorwanda. gov.rw/maproom/

Improved weather forecast for disaster preparedness and mitigation

The National Weather Radar, Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), Sattelite Lightning Detection and the real time surface observation networks are used for nowcasting and short range weather forecasting of weather patterns that occur on a very short time scale (0 to 6 hours) and monitor weather changes across the country. This is helpful to underpin weather extremes that constitute early warning forecast for public to serve multi sector activities

A weather monitoring station

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“identifying the needs of various stakeholders in terms of both the type of information required and preferred communication channels is a key step towards the successful delivery of subsequent project outputs.”

and planning such as agriculture, disaster management, water resources management, sports, transport, aviation among others.

Through Severe Weather Project of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Meteo Rwanda in collaboration with regional meteorological services shares daily forecast through teleconferencing to enhance accuracy and reliability of early warning forecast in East Africa Region. Member countries are EAC Partner States namely: Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and South Sudan.

Meteo Rwanda to support Education Sector Meteo Rwanda has received several schools at all levels (Primary, Secondary and University students) to learn weather and climate elements (Observations, Forecasting, Climatology, etc.) to enhance their knowledge and well assimilate the content of their ordinary curriculum in Geography, Environment, Water Resources, Energy, Physics, Chemistry, etc.

Projects being implemented

by Meteo Rwanda Strengthening Meteo Rwanda’s Weather and Climate Services to Support Development (FONERWA Project)

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

are heavily reliant on agriculture. This is the case in Rwanda, where agriculture accounts for 80% of the workforce and nearly 50% of all income earned in the country.

With this in mind, Rwanda’s Meteorology Agency (Meteo Rwanda) with support from the Met Office, the UK’s national meteorological service hired NEF Consulting to conduct a forecastive cost-benefit analysis, which looked at the potential benefits of these improvements in weather and climate services. In particular, the analysis focused on impacts associated with two types of severe weather events in Rwanda: droughts and landslides.

modern weather station

The goal of Meteo Rwanda’s FONERWA funded project entitled ‘‘Strengthening Meteo Rwanda’s Weather and Climate Services to Support Development.”is to bring about transformational change in the delivery, understanding and use of weather and climate information in decision making at national, district, sub-district and household levels in Rwanda. Ultimately, this will contribute to wealth creation and poverty reduction while building resilience to climate change impacts.

The long-term legacy of the project will be two-fold: First, it will put in place a strong foundation that will give the Rwandan population access to better weather and climate information to inform its approaches to poverty reduction, economic growth and adaptation to climate change. Second, it will enable Meteo Rwanda to effectively produce and communicate relevant weather and climate information through a re-skilling of staff at the head offices and across the country.

The Project aims at having at least1,000,000 households using weather and climate information in decision making related to livelihood activities by the end of the project in December 2017.

Meteo Rwanda carried out a series of Stakeholder Engagement Meetings and Surveys between 2015 and 2016.

The engagement workshops were carried out with officials from Local Government Authorities ranging from Provincial level to District level. The impetus for these engagements was that “identifying the needs of various stakeholders in terms of both the type of information required and preferred communication channels is a key step towards the successful delivery of subsequent project outputs.”

In March 2017 another round of stakeholder consultations was undertaken in the Northern Province districts of Burera, Musanze, Gakenke and Gicumbi. The participants were officers in various roles deemed relevant to Meteo Rwanda’s mission.

These engagements were conducted as sensitisation workshops to introduce and promote the agency’s work, which also provided an opportunity to gather feedback from the participants.

Aforecastive cost-benefit analysis done under support of FONERWA Project

Severe weather events are a danger to communities and economies the world over, especially so in countries which

One of the key potential benefits coming out of this analysis was avoided crop loss for farmers. By adopting better crop management practices, thanks to improved access to better daily and seasonal forecasts, farmers could potentially avoid some of the negative impacts of severe weather events such as drought.

The analysis shows there’s a strong possibility that improving access to and quality of weather and climate information could help both protect livelihoods in this nationally important industry which is vulnerable to severe weather events, while also boosting food security for the people reliant on its produce.

Despite strong potential benefits for the agricultural sector, it is through improving Rwanda’s response to the risk of landslides that the greatest potential benefit of this investment lies.

While the ability to prevent economic damage through infrastructure loss is limited and often an unavoidable cost of severe weather events, the appropriate provision of weather information such as accurate early warnings does have the potential to contribute to safer evacuations and therefore prevention of death for people in areas vulnerable to such events (e.g. landslides).

The analysis found that for every 1 RWF (Rwandan Franc) that the project invests in improving Meteo Rwanda’s GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 27

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

services, at least 4.1 RWF worth of value is potentially created.

The findings suggest the project has the potential to be a valuable investment for Rwanda. The potential social and economic value created far exceeds its costs, even when considering only the two severe weather events included in the scope of this analysis.

Post-Harvest and Agribusiness Support (PASP) Project Post-Harvest and Agribusiness Support Project (PASP)being implemented by Meteo Rwanda in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture was geared towards alleviate poverty, increase rural income and contribute to the overall economic development of Rwanda through use of weather and climate information.

The main outcome was to engage cooperatives, farmers organizations 28 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

or SMEs associated with participating HUBs have the skills and knowledge, as well as access to specialized service providers, to create viable and competitive businesses capable of delivering larger volumes of improved produce to the market chain and provide climate resilient and low carbon value adding to an expanding number of clients.

Though PASP Project, a wide range of users of weather and climate information especially farmers were engaged on use of weather and climate information. Most of these engagements workshops are organized in line with the seasonal forecast so that farmers can get information on the application of seasonal forecast with aim of boosting agricultural harvest.

The Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture Project The Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture project is a four-year initiative (2016-2019) that seeks to

transform Rwanda’s rural farming communities and national economy through improved climate risk management. The project’s goal is to improve agricultural planning and food security management in the face of a variable and changing climate at both local and government levels.

The Project is being jointly implemented

by Rwanda Meteorology Agency (Meteo Rwanda); Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) in partnership with the CGIAR research program on climate change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Center for tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Research Institute for Climate and society (IRI).

The project benefits from years of applied research on climate services for agriculture by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and its partners in Africa and beyond. It aims to improve the supply,

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

communication and use of climaterelated information in a balanced manner using products co-developed by both providers and users. For instance, the project will build on the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) approach, already piloted in eight countries in Africa, including Rwanda. ENACTS focuses on the creation of reliable climate information suitable for national and local decisionmaking. Under this initiative, Rwanda’s National Meteorology Agency has merged satellite data with its station observations to fill gaps in both space and time and can now provide a range of high-resolution climate information products tailored to agricultural user needs through web-based http:// maproom.meteorwanda.gov.rw/maproom/

Historical climate information and Seasonal forecast.

The Climate Map-rooms will provide an efficient way for Sector experts intermediaries (Agriculture, Disaster Risks, Health, etc) to access locationspecific climate information as they work with farmers and other local decision makers for informed planning and decisions. The project utilizes other innovative communication channels, such as interactive rural radio programming, to reach Rwanda’s populations especially farmers.

By the end of the project period, nearly a million farmers will have timely access to useful climate services. They will have better opportunities to transform their livelihoods through improved agricultural productivity. Agricultural planners, policy makers, investors, and food security specialists will be able to respond more effectively to droughts, floods and other climate-related risks.

Finally, a national network of climate services will be operational, with key national agencies able to sustainably deliver climate services for farmers.

Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture builds on and scale up the successful Participatory Integrated Climate Services (PICSA) approach to reach rural communities in the country. Through the PICSA approach, agricultural extension staffs, development NGOs and other intermediaries are trained to integrate climate services into their ongoing work with farming communities across Rwanda’s 30 districts.

PICSA Approach has been piloted in 3 sectors of 4 districts (Nyanza, Burera, Kayonza, and Ngororero). The trainings were provided to the Farmers Promoters (TwigireMuhinzi), Socio Economic and Development Officers (SEDOs) of cells, Sector Agronomist to train farmers on the effective use of Weather and Climate Information Services (CIS)to cope with Seasonal Climate Variability. The output of this exercises yielded about 30,000 farmers that are aware on the use of CIS in agriculture.

Counting on the success stories from the farmers, the PICSA Approach shall be extended to 12 districts in 2017/2018 to reach 150,000 farmers trained on managing risks and impacts of extreme weather and climate events and climate variability of planting dates, Cessation of seasonal rainfall, Seasonal rainfall amount, number of seasonal dry spells, number ofrain days days in a given season through the understanding of

Inside the weather Monitoring Station GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 29

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Generating timely weather data has facilitated efficient planning A word from the Director General Meteo One of the mandates of Meteorological Department Rwanda is to identify climatic zones, monitor their characteristics and use them towards national development. The Director General, JOHN SEMAFARA takes us through the activities of the department and how they enhance national development.

TNT: how have your activities so far fed into Rwanda’s development and which sectors can we say have benefitted the most from such activities and information?

It is worth recalling that meteorological parameters monitor the physical status of the environment in which all living things dwell.

DG: : It’s absolute that one of our mandates is to identify climatic zones, monitor their characteristics and use them towards national development. So far, we have a number of meteorological stations that help us collect weather data which are archived for a minimum of 30 years and then scientifically treated ,through analysis to demarcate and know the situation of each climatic zone. The data we have are from the 1900’s and are archived here in the digitalized form for use in the present climate related projects and also be used in future generations’ planning activities.

Every sector needs weather and climate information for short, medium and long term planning and decision making for sustainable development. As we all know, over 72% of the Rwandan population depends on rain-fed farming and therefore the Agricultural sector is one of those who benefit most from our weather and climate services.

Because of our tragic history of 1994, our infrastructure was destroyed but so far we have managed to fill datagaps by carrying out statistical correction of existing data and merge it with satellite data to improve accuracy. Now back on the issue of the sectors that have most benefited, they are many because our sector is crosscutting.

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In that regard, we do have a wide range of products that are specifically produced that are destined to farmers, namely: the Seasonal Forecast, monthly forecast,10 Days Climatological Bulletin, Five Days Forecast andthe Daily forecast ,to mention but a few. The Aviation sector also benefits from our services and products. Any airplane before landing and takeoff, they need to have the enroute weather forecast so that they can plan the flight route and even calculate how much fuel to carry in order to have a safe flight.

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We are part of international networks composed of worldwide national meteorological agencies whereby this information for aviation sector is routinely shared or on demand to enable airplanes to safely navigate to Rwanda and elsewhere.

TNT: Climate change is a universal occurrence that is severely affecting economic development and social structures and functioning of communities; how do your interventions help in the creation of climate change resilience in the country?

Disaster Management is one other very important sector that benefits from our services as we give them early warning information in form of formatted messages for disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Thanks to the Government of Rwanda for the recently acquired Doppler weather Radar that has contributed very much to the capacity to generate accurate early warning messages.

DG: I concur with you that climate change is severely affecting the national development and social structures and functioning of communities. We need to understand that climate change is fueled by human activities such as industrialization which pollute the air by sending the carbon dioxide and other polluting gases to the atmosphere.

There other sectors such as tourism, water resources management, energy generation, and all sorts of infrastructure development. Any sustainable infrastructure let’s say roads, buildings, power plant and hydropower need to be installed based on the climatological situation of that area. We provide climatological data to different construction plants so that they can choose construction materials that fit the situation of that area.

It is the meteorological data which we generate that is used for determining both Climate Change and Variability, for planning climate change adaptation/and or mitigation.

Climate data is used by both the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINACOFIN) and the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) in their planning processes, regularly.

We shouldn’t forget Consultants, including University based researchers that work on climate related projects and always come to Meteo Rwanda for climate data.

Further, we recall that the majority of Rwandans depend on agricultural activities. Therefore, since climate change has severely affected the onset and cessation of rainfall, it will completely disrupt the agriculture which supports the bulk of our economy. And because of this climate change, people need to have proper planning to mitigate the effects of climate change. Now back on our contribution, the weather and climate information issues in advance can be used for long-term planning and decision making purposes. We keep providing updates on regular basis of the weather and climate changes which are likely to affect the community thus creating resilience and adaptation to climate change.

TNT: A total of 304 weather stations are installed and operational throughout the country; of what importance are these in relation to early warning systems and prevention of disaster?

DG: We really invested very much in our meteorological stations infrastructure. Besides these 304 weather stations,

A weather forecast equipment GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 31

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we do have also the Doppler weather Radar installed at Maranyundo Hill in Bugesera District that enables our institution to monitor the development of severe weather phenomena ,which information we use to generate early warning information for disaster risk reduction.

The above mentioned meteorological equipment/ instruments are used hand in hand with other information from different weather monitoring systems we have got that including satellite images receivers on the ground that capture weather information from global centers. The derived data are analyzed and used in conjunction with data from our observations network to generate the information which supports the disaster management sector.

You will agree with me that the weather does not have boundaries. This is the reason why on a daily basis we connect to a regional teleconferencing center composed of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of countries within the East African Community so that we closely monitor the weather conditions in their countries that may affect our weather.

TNT: Your mandate is to observe weather, generate information and recommend to other stakeholders; what is the state of capacity of other stakeholders in implementing your recommendations?

DG: TThe stakeholders have been steadily increasing given the fact that we embarked on creating awareness on use of weather and climate information across the country. With support from different projects, we have had engagement workshops with different sectors especially the Local Government Authorities at District and Provincial level, Farmers’ cooperatives, Agriculture Extension Officers, Media community, Red Cross and Disaster Management Representatives at those levels, to mention but a few.

This is the process of sensitizing as many users of climate information as possible and the exercise shall be continued.

From the experience gained so far through these raising awareness workshops, we can testify that the uptake of weather and climate information is really increasing and our target is to go an extra miles and continue reaching out to different sectors.

Our ultimate goal is to give products that really benefit our customers and it is through the engagements that we get information on how to tailor vour weather forecasts and climate infomation.Currentlywe are working on developing our National Communication Strategy for Weather and Climate Information that shall give us the insights of our stakeholders’ perception ofthe services and products we deliver, how are they to be accessed and which improvements should be done to better serve our end users.

Equipment inside the forecast status

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

TNT: How do you ensure that members of local communities do appreciate and embrace the information that you do provide?

TNT: What are the major challenges in the process of conducting your activities and how are you addressing them?

DG: First of all we aim at reaching as many as possible and then engage them to tell us how we should tailor our products(weather and climate information) for them to be able to use it in their planning and decision making.Wehave to explain to them the inherent problems that do affect the accuracy of our products.

DG: There is urgent need to train new staff who are soon to join theAgency. They have science qualifications but they shall need meteorological training.

We must make sure that the climate information is reliably accurate and regularly provided This one is evident in demand by the community of weather and climate information that has increased tremendously. We always receive feedback from our end users through a wide range of communication channels. This can be realized on number of visits on our website, phone calls on our toll free number which is 6080, emails, messages on social media and calls in different talk shows conducted.

Another challenge we have, the uptake of the weather and climate information is still low.There is need for carrying out many awareness campaigns aiming at increasing the understanding of the users of weather and climate information.

The dissemination of weather and climate information needs many efforts and we are really committed to make a wide number of users access our services and products for planning purposes and decision making.

Lack of doing research is also one other big challenge that must be addressed as soon as possible. However, this is being addressed because the government signed a MoU with the University of Rwanda(UR) with a view todevelop research expertise through joint research ventures.

Equipment inside the forecast status

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Keeping the ecological integrity Francine Tumushime, Minister of Lands and Forestry

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man does not plant a tree for himself; he plants it for posterity. This is a salient statement that bespeaks of why it is important to think and act in keeping and creating an ecological equilibrium that carries the components of life for the current and future generations—sustainable utilization of resources.

Forests being the world’s air conditioning system and the lungs of the planet, require devoted and unrelenting efforts in support, protection and incessant unbroken renewal, if the earth life-systems are to be sustained today and generations to come, without putting paid to the invaluable flow of benefits to nature and humanity.

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It is therefore by deliberate design that the Government of Rwanda is committing enormous resources and efforts to make development of the forestry sector a national priority, working towards an ambitious target of increasing national forest cover up to 30% of the national territory by 2020.

To attain the said targets, the government of Rwanda has embarked on forestation and re-forestation programmes, forest landscape restoration approach, targeting restoration of 2,000,000 hectares of degraded lands, increasing agro-forestry areas and planting of protective tree alongside roads, river banks and lake shores as well as restoring and protecting natural forests. Through such efforts, in February 2016, the Gishwati-Mukura natural forest was declared the 4th national Park, rehabilitated under the principles of restoring ecological integrity.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

The government is also implementing projects that are projected to contribute to the overall health of the forest environment, including; Protection and Restoration of Ecosystems and Forests (PAREF) and Sustainable Forestry, Agro-forestry and Biomass Energy (SFABE) which targets to rehabilitate 500 ha of degraded forests, creating 3,000 ha woodlots, agro-forestry on 15,000 ha for soil fertility and promoting improved cook-stoves in order to reduce pressure on forest resources.

These and more initiatives, including the distribution of over 180,000,000 seedlings have seen Rwanda taking giant strides towards the attainment of the 30% forest cover by 2020.

Land Resources Efficiency in the management of resources also, to a great extent, defines how people tame nature to defeat necessity. Not only is land a factor of production, but the livelihoods depend on it; living, dwelling, production and exploitation of what nature has provided to refine progress.

The government of Rwanda considers effective land use management with utmost priority, emphasizing rational manage and use of urban and rural land for its increased productivity.

Much attention has therefore been put to implementation of national land policies, laws, strategies, regulations and

promotion of activities related to investment and value addition in the activities related to the use and exploitation of land resources, including registration and issuance of authentic land deeds.

A series of activities have been implemented to ensure efficiency in land use planning and productivity beginning with the development of National Land Use Master Plan, the national land use planning portal, where land use plans and related information such as maps are stored, a modern geodetic reference network for Rwanda and Spatial Data Infrastructure for easy surveying procedures, implementation of the districts and Kigali City Master Plan.

Systematic Land Registration legal instruments were developed to enable demarcation of around 12 Million of Parcels, 8,404,407 leases printed and 7,164,230 titles collected by owners. The ministry will continue with sensitizing land owners on the importance of collecting their land titles.

Awareness on these and more activities that ensure sustainable harvesting from nature without compromising future generations will continue to be created, as it is the power of knowledge that breeds ownership of programmes and projects to be implemented, collective benefits and national progress.

So all of us Rwandans should adopt all best practices available to sustainably utilize our resources and promote the virtues of ecological integrity.

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Breeding Nature, Feeding a Nation

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he Forestry sector is playing a key role in supporting livelihoods of all Rwandans especially by providing most of the energy consumed by a majority of the population, controlling soil erosion and protecting water catchments and supplying other goods and ecological services.

The Government of Rwanda, through its Vision 2020 has made the development of the forestry sector a national priority and has committed itself to an ambitious target to increase national forest cover up to 30% of the national territory by 2020.

Today, Rwanda’s forest land covers 704,995hectares, about 29.6% of the country’s total dry land area of over 2.3 million hectares. From West to East, the country forests are divided in three main categories: Natural and humid forests (Nyungwe, Volcanoes, Gishwati, Mukuraand Busaga forests), commercial plantations (mainly Eucalyptus and Pines plantations) and 36 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

wooded savannahs (Akagera, Gabiro, Nasho, Gako and Kibirizi-Muyira natural savannah).

The forestry sector contributes significantly to national economy through timber and charcoal trade. Charcoal alone contributes about 4% to the gross domestic products.

The public private partnership (coo-management) frameworkdeveloped for public forest management contributes to the value addition of forest products.

Afforestation and Re-afforestation for a greater forest cover The afforestation and re-afforestation were done in all suitable areas with the target to reach at least 30% of the national land covered with forests by 2020. Today 29.6 % of the national land are covered. These include planted forest, wooded savannah and natural humid forests. Planted forests cover over 437,000 hectares, about 62 % while wooded savannah and natural forests cover around 258,000 hectares, about 38%.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Forest Landscape Restoration approach (FLR) The FLR is one of the key approaches for sustainable land management and the achievement of agricultural sustainability. This approach aims at restoring functionality to deliver multiple benefits and reducing loss of natural systems. In 2011, the Government of Rwanda committed to restore 2,000,000 hectares of degraded lands through the Bonn Challenge by 2030.

Agroforestry: One of the key findings of the assessment is that 1.1. million ha has the potential to be transformed from traditional to agroforestry. Thus Rwanda citizens were sensitised to plant agroforestry trees targeting to increase the agroforestry areas to 85 % of all farm lands. Today the agroforestry trees cover 153,901 ha, 7% of national arable land.

Protective forests: protective trees species were planted alongside different roads, on the boundaries of lakeshores (Mugesera, Cyohoha, Kivu) in wetlands buffer (Rugezi,) and around water catchments (Nyabarongo, Sebeya).

Agroforestry with arnus trees in Musanze District

growth is based on rational use of resources, PAREF B2 project participated actively in making Rwandan Forestry Sector one of the pillars of the National Economy and ecological viability.

Its support contributed at the same time to the poverty reduction, economic growth and environment protection.

Under PAREF support about 1200 Ha of Gishwati Natural forest were reforested and helped over 200 local residents generate money through the Labour Intensive Work in which the beneficiaries got jobs and knowledge in various activities related to tree planting and forests management.

SFABE(Sustainable forestry, agroforestry and biomass energy): Started in 2014 in Gatsibo District, SFABE Project is rehabilitating 500 ha of degraded forests; creating 3,000 ha woodlots for environmental protection, agroforestry on 15,000 ha for soil fertility and promoting improved cookstoves in order to reduce pressure on forest resources. The project will benefit around 19,500 poorest households which represents 17% of the total population of the district.

To avail to communitythe various species of plant seedlings appropriate to each region: Around 180,000,000 seedlings were produced and distributed to the community and at least 5tons of seeds per year are being collected and distributed.

Protective forest planted on Cyohoha buffer zone

Restoration and protection of Natural Forests: In February 2016 the Gishwati-Mukura natural forest was declared 4th national Park, and today it is being rehabilitated under the principles of restoring ecological integrity–restoring by planting indigenous species while at the same time improving human wellbeing by creating non timber forest products projects.

Through the PAREF, a project supported by the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) working under Rwanda Natural Resources, has produced a book about the main tree and shrub species for forestry and agroforestry in Rwanda.

Based on this book, a tool has been made with which species can be selected easily and evaluated on suitability to a future planting site, with only District and Sector as needed criteria.

Other small Natural state forests and savannah (Busaga, Kibirizi-Muyira, Nyagatare, Nyagasenyi, Cyangwe, ...) restored under the same principles in addition to the creation of a buffer zone around the forests and are protected by the Ministerial Order No 006/GOVERNMENT/2015 of 18/06/2015 determining the management of protected state forests not governed by special laws.

Since 2014 the Tree Seed Center is hosted by the Environment and Natural Resources Sector and experts in the sector were more and more invited to look for innovative ways of strengthening the capacity of Tree Seed Center to make sure that higher quality forest seeds are produced to achieve the target of forest productivity of planted lands.

Projects: PAREF B2 IIn line with the protection and restoration of country’s ecosystems and forests and ensuring that Rwanda’s economic

Engagement of Private Sector in state forest management Coo management agreements for a forest covering a total 738,64 ha of wood fuel plantations have been signed between the Government and Tea factories. These include: coo GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 37

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management and lease agreement between Environment and Natural Resources and Multi-Sector Investment group (MIG) for the 142 ha of Ndende and Nganzo State forest plantations, for a period of 40 years; the coo management include coo management and lease agreement between Environment and Natural Resources and Pfunda Tea Company for the 273,64 ha of Magaba State forest plantations, for a period of 49 years; the coo management and lease agreement between Environment and Natural Resources and Rwanda Mountain Tea for the 323 ha of small State forests plantations (Bwishinge, Juru, Kinyembogo‌) in Rutsiro and Ngororero Districts for a period of 49 years.

Participatory forest management In line with the sustainable management of both public and private forests, under support of PAREF NL2 project, the rural population was trained for the participatory forest management and livelihoods improvement in nine districts (Burera, Musanze, Rubavu, Ngororero, Nyabihu, Karongi, Nyamasheke, Rurindo, Rusizi and Rutsiro) through their organised and active cooperatives or associations.

Electrical poles produced by the New Forest Company

An electrical pole plant for local supply and export was launched in April 2012 in Nyungwe Buffer Zone under New Forest Company lease agreement.

Since then the plant exports the poles in the region. Eg; By June 2015, 11,500 electrical poles from the plant have been exported to Tanzania Energy Authority and totalising the revenue of 2,114,735 USD$. More public forests are expected to be managed under concession agreement with private sector and this approach will boost job creation for youth.

Bamboo products workshop in Masaka Incubation centre

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Electrical poles produced by the New Forest Company A Training Centre on bamboo processing hosted by WDA have been established in Masaka, Kicukiro District under support of Chinese Government.

Timber processing and selling points (UDUKIRIRO) have been established in all districts of the country to improve wood value chain and accessibility

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New Forests Rwanda

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stablished in 2011 after NFC won the concession to manage the buffer zone around Nyungwe National Park. The buffer zone is 10,046 hectares (ha) of plantation forest that exists to protect Nyungwe.

Nyungwe Forest is a natural equatorial mountain rainforest that covers over 1,000 square kms, has more than 13 species of primates, 300 species of birds 75 species of mammals and some of the densest biodiversity in the world. The buffer zone includes 8,215 ha of planted forest that is 65% pine, 15% eucalyptus, and 20% other tree species.

We are proud to be contributing to Rwanda’s Vision 2020 through social and economic development. Inspired by the country’s clear vision and progress, we are striving to become the most successful vertically integrated, sustainable forestry and value-added timber processing business in East Africa by 2020. Our guiding pillars are our product suite of poles, sawn timber, value added products, and biomass energy generation. Our workers and partners are the foundation upon which we can build this vision, so we are continuously investing in them and building their capacity.

2. Pole plant NFR installed a state of the art pole processing plant in Nyanza. This plant is the first and only electrification pole manufacturing facility in Rwanda and is preparing for ISO 9001 certification in 2017. The plant has an annual capacity to produce 120,000 poles with room for expansion as the market grows. While we are planting trees for our own poles we are also opening-up to buy poles from local farmers to catalyse the local economy and encourage commercial tree planting.

The establishment of the pole treatment plant in Nyanza has had a major impact on the population in the area. “The plant has given jobs to many residents here in Nyanza like neighbouring villages that received electricity from NFC support and boosting business activities through consumption of different consumables by the plant and our staff”

also supported local nurseries around the buffer zone to improve their seeds and silvicultural practices to raise better seedlings. In the long-term, we would like to close our own nurseries and outsource seedling production exclusively to local entrepreneurs and community groups We produce energy efficient charcoal that is three times more efficient than the charcoal on the market. We are also exploring how we can use our biomass to generate renewable power as part of our zero-waste commitment and contribution to Vision 2020.

5. Corporate social responsibility Through its corporate social responsibility programme The New Forests Company has also supported SMEs in different areas by providing modern bee hives and harvesting equipment around Nyungwe buffer zone forest. They maintained ten clean water projects for the communities that have been executed by local contractors a way to boosting the local economy through employment created for them.

Since 2010, Rwanda vowed to increase forest cover to 30 per cent of total national area equivalent to 790,140 ha of forests by year 2020. Consequently, some of the farmers who target to garner on forest income joined New Forests company’s out-grower program where more than 1,000 hectares has been planted and has already benefited more than 1500 farmers to date. “Our philosophy as a forestry company is both economic, social and environment oriented.

New Forests Rwanda believes in “shared value” – the idea that building strategic, win-win partnerships with our stakeholders allows our company and our partners to thrive.

Through these partnerships, more value is created, and more people benefit. We view shared value through our three impact priorities: community, conservation and commerce.

3. Sawmill NFR has invested in cutting edge Woodmizer mobile sawmills to maintain flexibility in the face of the geographically sparse plantation with very steep slopes. We are scaling up our processing capacity and assessing which value added timber products to produce the best quality timber which will be the first of its kind in the country. Timber value addition starts with proper drying of the timber, this allows for a stable product for use in construction and good quality furniture. With the kiln dried timber, NFC will start making construction materials like trusses, lounge and groove timber , various mouldings, decking material, doors and door frames, window frames, ceiling which will all cut down the costs of importation of a number of products in the country.

4. Environment NFR has established our own nursery of improved eucalyptus seedlings and have planted more than 200Ha so far and will continue to replant whatever we harvest as part of our sustainable plantation management. We have GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017 39

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Planning for land optimization The Government of Rwanda, through the Environment and Natural Resources Sector has developed the National Land Use and Development Master Plan in 2012 and National Land Use Planning portal launched in 2014, to address the challenge of land scarcity and overpopulation.

The approval of the National Land Use and Development Master Plan was followed by the development and approval of District Land Use Master Plan and their implementation strategies both in rural and urban areas to increase productivity.

Laws and regulations The law No43/2013 governing land in Rwanda and 16 orders enacting it were gazetted and disseminated across the country through the local government and other various channels of communications.

Land registration About 12 Million Parcels of land were registered, 8,404,407 leases printed 40 GREENING RWANDA | OUTLOOK | ISSUE 2017

In a bid to improve service delivery land-related services were decentralised at sector level and since 2014,

and 7,164,230 titles collected by owners.

Land registration was completed in 2012. Since then, an interface linking existing Land Administration System and the mortgage registration system was created to provide access of all banks to the Land Administration and Information System (LAIS) which is operational in all districts. 5 District Land Bureau Offices were constructed for Nyamasheke, Rulindo, Ngororero, Bugesera and Gatsibo Districts.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

been put in place.

In 2013, the City of Kigali developed a City Master plan to serve as a guide for all activities in the District of City of Kigali. This master plan is reachable online at www.masterplan.kigalicity. gov.rw The national land use planning portal which is a web platform where land use plans and related information such as maps are stored, was launched in 2015 with the objectives of disseminating national and district land use plans to the public and facilitating access to information related to land use planning in Rwanda.

Land accounts are being developed under Rwanda Natural Capital Accounting Project supported by the World Bank to ensure rational and sustainable management and use of national lands for the current and the future generation.

Minister of Natural Resources Vincent Biruta handing a land title to Gisozi resident during the Land Week

In a bid to improve service delivery landrelated services were decentralised at sector level and since 2014, Sector Land Managers were recruited, trained and all arrangements have been put in place to cover all sector land services at 100%.

Today all land transactions are done in 7 days. But when a transaction concerns an investment land, transactions are completed in one day only.

A Land Administration and Information System (LAIS)has been established and reveals that people have accessed this online system 465,753 times. A mobile application available and accessible via *651# followed by UPI codes and the Rwanda Online Platform ‘IREMBO’ are being used for land transfers to ease access to information.

The whole process is regularly communicated to land owners/users through the annual citizens’ outreach campaign known as “Land Week” where the Staff responsible for land registration meet citizens in their respective sectors for different land services and transactions.

Rational Land use and management: Implementation of the National and

Districts land use master plans Today 29 of 30 Districts have already developed and approved their Land Use Plans and their detailed implementation strategies are being developed. A technical team composed of Members from Environment and Natural Resources, Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority, Rwanda Housing Authority and RDB to monitor land compliance and implementation of land use plans has

In order to keep fighting soil erosion on steep slopes 92, 882 ha of radical terraces have been achieved and 901,752 ha of progressive terraces have been made. Environment and Natural Resources and its agencies are implementing long and short term projects supported by FONERWA in districts where major degraded land users are benefiting from restoration through the strategic tree planting and land management best practices. A land protection suitability map, guidelines and standards of land protection are being established. A monitoring and Information system for effective use of terraces is being updated.

Proper land management for better farm yields

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

For proper Implementation of Land Policies and Adequate Use of Land

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and as a valuable resource is stated as one of the important pillars for sustainable development of Rwanda in the national document, VISION 2020. It is definitely a priority for agricultural development and a springboard in the fight against poverty.

The Land sub-sector is one of the five sub-sectors that constitute the Environment and Natural Resources Sector.

The objective of this sub-sector is to develop appropriate policies for land use and to ensure that all land resources are recorded and classified adequately and, that laws and appropriate land tenure systems are implemented correctly.

The implementation of land policies and adequate use of land is the responsibility of Lands Management and Use Authority (RLMUA). It has the mandate to do the following: • Implementation of national policies, laws, strategies, regulations and Government resolutions related to the management and use of land; • Provision of advice to the Government, monitoring and coordinating the implementation of strategies related to the management and use of land; • Promotion of activities related to investment and value addition in the activities related to the use and exploitation of land resources in Rwanda;

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•

To register land, issue and keep land authentic deeds and any other information relating to land of Rwanda.

• Supervision of all land-related matters and representingthe State for supervision and monitoring of land management and use; • Execution or or facilitating the execution of geodetic, topographic, hydrographic and cadastral surveys in relation to land resources; • Setting principles and guidelines that guide all related stakeholders on the use of land; • Organising, coordinating and monitoring the collection use and dissemination of geo information in the country under the National Spatial data Infrastructure Framework; etc Laws and regulations The law No 43/2013 governing land in Rwanda and 16 implementing orders were gazetted and disseminated across the country through the local government and other various channels of communications.

Investment on land and Conflict Resolution enabled by Land registration Over the period 2009-2013 the former Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) and now RLMUA in partnership with its development partners completed the Land Tenure Regularisation (LTR) programme which

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

covered first land registration through demarcation and titling of approximately 11.3 million parcels across the country, 8,404,407 leases were printed and 7,164,230 titles have been collected by owners. The Land Reform in Rwanda is aiming at sustaining the remarkable achievements up to now and reaches out to local levels. The over-all strategic objective is to put in place and operationalise an efficient system of land administration and land management that secure land ownership, promote investment in land for socio-economic development and poverty reduction. In order to ensure proper land management and land administration and specifically the maintenance of land certificates issued to landholders during land registration, a Land Administration Information System (LAIS) has been developed. LAIS is a web based land registration tool that is developed based on procedures and processes that are provided for by the Ministerial Order Determining Modalities of Land Registration.

Rwanda recognizes open access of land information to all people (Rwandans and foreigners). An interface linking the existing LAIS and the mortgage registration system was created to provide easy access to banks and the RDB/ investment promotion department. With this development, investors can easily seek conclusive information about land. The Land Administration Information System is also connected to Kigali City Construction Permitting system as well as to the Rwanda revenue Authority and it is operational in all districts.

Starting 2015, citizen has access to land information through a mobile application available and accessible using their mobile phone via an USSD code (*651#). The system reveals that people have accessed this application 600000 times for the period (march 2016-July 2017).

In the process of building the capacity of the Districts, enabling them to give a quick and better service delivery in a suitable environment, 25 District Land Bureaus were refurbished and 5 District Land Bureaus were constructed for Nyamasheke, Rulindo, Ngororero, Bugesera and Gatsibo Districts.

Since 2014, land-related services were decentralized at the sector level. 416 Sector Land Managers were recruited, trained and all necessary infrastructures were availed to efficiently help the Sector Land Manager to fulfill their responsibilities.

Today, the time taken to process land transaction has reduced drastically, where a land transfer used to take 365 days and now it can take only one day with “One step, one day one procedure” for commercial and industrial land uses and less than two weeks for other land uses.

In order to make land services accessible online, the Rwanda Online Ltd has developed a platform “IREMBO” which is linked to LAIS to enable people to apply online.

As for now, Irembo platform is being used for four land transactions which are land transfer by sale and donation, land use change, land subdivision and land merging. In addition, the system allows the clients to track the progress of their applications through SMS notification.

With regard to the awareness rising, there is an the annual citizens’ outreach campaign known as “Land Week” where the Staff responsible for land registration meet citizens in their respective sectors to share information and experiences on the formal registration of land transactions and the proper land use in respect to land use plans. .

Land conflicts are a common phenomenon in society but the Land Registration has made efforts to curb this in guarantying the security of ownership to all landowners hence the minimisation of intra-family and other land related conflicts.

National Land Use Development Master Plan The Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Land and Foresty has developed the National Land Use and Development Master Plan in 2012 and National Land Use Planning portal launched in 2014, to address the challenge of land scarcity and overpopulation.

Rwanda had been experiencing steady growth in terms of economic development and population. This promptly resulted into the high expectations for the management of natural resources like land, improved living conditions and sub sequentially the government participation in the planning process and rapidly changing technologies in infrastructural development.

The Government of Rwanda initiated a planning procedure that resulted into the preparation and adoption of a National Land Use Development Master Plan. This plan provides national guidelines for better use and management of land in Rwanda and most importantly outlines guidelines for the development of detailed District Land Use Plans.

The approval of the National Land Use and Development Master Plan was followed by the development and approval of District Land Use Master Plan and their implementation strategies both in rural and urban areas to increase productivity

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Implementation progress Today all 30 Districts have developed and approved their Land Use Plans and their detailed implementation strategies are being developed. A technical team composed of Members from Environment and Natural Resources, Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority, Rwanda Housing Authority and RDB to monitor land compliance and implementation of land use plans has been put in place.

An assessment on implementation of 2011 national land use master plan is being carried out in all districts to inform the planned review of the said master plan In 2013, the City of Kigali developed a City Master plan to serve as a guide for all activities in the Districts of the City of Kigali. This master plan is reachable online at www.masterplan2013.kigalicity.gov.rw The national land use planning portal https://www.rwandalanduse.rnra.rw which is a web platform where land use plans and related information such as maps are stored and accessed was launched in 2015 with the objectives of disseminating national and district land use plans to the public and facilitating access to information related to land use planning in Rwanda.

Land accounts are being developed under Rwanda Natural Capital Accounting Project supported by the World Bank to ensure rational and sustainable management and use of national lands for the current and the future generation.

A modern geodetic reference network for Rwanda for easy surveying processes was established and a national data infrastructure is being developed.

In order to keep fighting soil erosion on steep slopes 92, 882 ha of radical terraces have been achieved and 901,752 ha of progressive terraces have been made.

Environment and Natural Resources and its agencies are implementing long and short term projects supported by FONERWA in districts where major degraded land users are benefiting from restoration through the strategic tree planting and land management best practices. A land protection suitability map, guidelines and standards of land protection are being established. A monitoring and Information system for effective use of terraces is being updated.

Addressing challenges Even with the leaps Rwanda has taken in land mapping and registration there have been a few challenges First, the implementation of the National Land use plan is still challenging and not well understood by all. More efforts in ensuring the enforcement of National Land Use Planning Guidelines and Land Use Indicators are needed in order to optimize land use, citizens should be educated to enable them to participate in land use planning process.

Also, some people have been adamant to provide required information for land registration and in response, the lands management and use authority has ensured that land related services are decentralized at sector level for better service delivery.

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

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FRANCIS GATARE CEO of Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board

T

he mining sector in Rwanda has, in the recent past, gained a high level of importance in terms of contributing to national development; through export revenues and contributing to the creation of off-farm jobs, upwards of 30,000 jobs, supporting, in the process, the attainment of Vision 2020 ideals and international commitment to Sustainable Development Goals.

The recent mineral export earnings show an upward trend ; 2013 U$226.2 million, 2014 US$ 210.7 Million, 2015 $149.1 Million and in 2016 earned US$ 166 million, surpassing coffee and tea earnings, making it the second highest foreign exchange earner of the country (after tourism). It thus also plays an essential role in decreasing Rwanda’s negative external trade balance. The government targets to earn $800 million from the sector by 2020 and $1.6 billion in 2024.

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The government has therefore committed to strengthening the sector through a number of initiatives, including building structural, organizational and individual capacities with special emphasis on establishing a competitive legal framework and operating in tandem with international mineral trade obligations.

The Government of Rwanda recognizes that the mining sector has the potential to become one of the drivers of long-term sustainable growth through economic transformation, industrialization and inclusive growth taking into account environmental and social considerations and using green mining techniques. It can provide revenues to contribute towards rapid economic growth, a positive trade balance, foreign exchange, opportunities for employment, backwards and forward linkages that will overall generate substantial social and economic benefits to the Rwandan society.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

With recent changes in management of the mining sector, the newly created Board of Mines, Petroleum and Gas is now being restructured to adopt a new approach to deliver higher-level results from the mining industry. These changes put emphasis on the use of minerals as one of the growth drivers for the economy with the vision to transform the mining sector into a vibrant, dynamic and efficient sector through promoting adequate geological knowledge of the country’s natural endowment, investments in mining, value addition and linkages, and responsible mining to spur economic transformation, industrialization, growth and development. To boost production key interventions are being implemented.

Increase of knowledge of the available minerals in the country by conducting detailed mineral exploration in existing and new potential areas ranks high on the government agenda which has prompted local investments in exploration and attracting foreign interests in the potential sites. Increase of production will be based on the geo data as guide to investment and opening of new strategic mining areas.

The exploration will help to determine the mining methods and capital equipment and defining criteria for the various kinds of licenses. The best practices and modern processing machines such as jigs at all mines sites, are to be introduced together with consolidation of artisanal and small miners.

Strategic investment will be promoted by attracting foreign and local investors in exploration and mineral exploitation in potential mining areas with comprehensive data and well organized miners. This will be accompanied by enforcement of legal and regulatory requirements as well as training of miners.

Efforts are underway to conduct feasibility study for processing plants (refineries and smelters) in an effort to promote value addition with purpose to increase mineral revenues as a first phase .With recent discoveries, it has been found that Rwanda is rich in other minerals rather than only 3Ts such as gemstones, lithium, iron,.

The government is building capacities to transform from artisanal to industrial level mining

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Exploring and exploiting mineral resources for better export earnings

A

bout ten years ago, the Government of Rwanda privatised the mining sector. In recent years, the Rwanda mining industry has made significant progress with a steady increase of mineral production and export on the world market contributing about 2 per cent of Rwanda’s GDP. Rwanda’s mining sector has improved in terms of production, exports and contribution to the national economy.

Today, mining in Rwanda presents opportunities in ores, processing and diversification. The main mineral exports are; tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold and gemstones. Exploration works to identify and delineate more mineral deposits are underway.

Reforms for better productivity and safety There are a number of reforms that have been undertaken

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to build capacities of the National Mining and Geological Authority to ensure value addition of mine and quarry products.

Through the Strengthening Capacity Building Initiative Project, at least 25 staff have been trained in different areas abroad to acquire skills in different mining activities at Masters level in; Australia, South Africa, USA, France, Rwanda among others. Seven experts in mining were hired for a short period to transfer skills and knowledge to the young professionals as well as the line staff in the institution.

A Mining School was also opened in 2012 at IPRC Kigali. It has 178 students today.

There has been further detailed exploration, development and updating mining investment promotional tools and training small scale miners in resources evaluation and in management of mines, and a re-interpretation in already

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

explored 5 Prospected Targeted Areas (PTAs).

A report on geological surveys and exploration in three selected Potential Target Areas (PTAs) (Bugesera II, III and Rulindo II) has been completed and has recommended further and deeper exploration in thirteen Future Priority Areas on key minerals like Tin, Tungsten, Tantalum, Gold, Lithium, Rare Earth Elements, Nickel, Platinum Group Minerals and Base metal. Stream sediment, soil and rock sampling and ground geophysical work in all the three PTAs have been completed.

Mineral explorations have been done in seven mineral Prospective Target Areas (PTAs): Nyagatare, Kirehe, Nyabisindu and Nyanza; completed and exploration in 3 PTAs: Rulindo, Bugesera and Mwogo and ongoing with further exploration works in delineated potential areas with PTAs. The 15 minerals being explored are; tin, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, gold, nickel and copper.

A National mining cadastre system has been developed and is being connected to all Districts.

Contribution to the National Economy In recent years, mineral export earnings (US $ 226 million in 2013) have considerably increased such that mining is now Rwanda’s second highest foreign exchange earner and the highest in exports with 30 to 40% of total Rwanda exports. This sector thus plays an essential role in bridging the balance of trade deficit.

Strategy for value addition The Karuruma Tin Smelter, Phonix Metals smelting activities were launched in January 2015 at a test phase (90t of cassiterite/day), and the process of obtaining a Conflict-Free Smelter certificate is ongoing. Smelting tests have been done by Phoenix Metals with 23 tonnes of cassiterite (9.2% Casseterite) locally.

The sector earned $210.6 Million in 2014 and $208 M in 2015 due to international market price volatility.

VALUES (USD)

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Cassiterite

3,874,203

6,952,070

4,636,642

4,895,268

5,929,940

3,845,658

2016 3,549,896

Coltan

748,723

890,076

1,144,684

2,466,025

2,302,520

1,651,712

1,269,940

Wolfram

843,424

1,006,237

1,750,568

2,217,930

2,166,168

1,784,403

1,715,962

Other minerals

293,753

442,523

56,388

59,367

,958,850

6,708,261

6,572,417

Period (Year)

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Cassiterite

42,207,860

96,816,500.69

52,896,906

61,074,480

71,632,989

34,263,244

34,807,904

Coltan

18,482,773

38,584,888.83

56,911,604

134,571,614

104,780,333

66,200,323

39,742,509

Wolfram

7,099,509

16,025,382.39

26,262,461

30,053,783

26,156,300

17,343,125

11,904,110

Other minerals

3,461,399

7,384,532.65

274,239

489,438

8,110,694

31,275,751

80,057,524

Total

71,251,541

158,811,305

136,345,210

226,189,315

210,680,316

149,082,443

166,512,047

Minerals

Implementation of the Model Mine Concept consists of a set of standards for good practices in mining sector in the areas of technology, environmental protection standards, employees’ safety and security standards, mine facilities, implementation of Environmental Management Plans, noise survey and management standards, waste water management and corporate social responsibilities. The Model Mines was launched in December 2016.

Petroleum exploration activities A cooperation agreement has been signed between the Government of Rwanda and the Government of DRC for the joint exploration of petroleum in Lake Kivu.

So far, the Government of Rwanda has already hired a firm to carry out exploration service for seismic acquisition and processing for oil/gas in Lake Kivu. Airborne gravity and magnetic survey data has already been processed and interpreted; 2D survey completed with a total number of 11 lines, processed and interpreted.

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Exploring the potentials Mining in Rwanda has gained importance in terms of revenues generation,, and job creation. The mining industry has always had a strong positive impact on the Rwandan economy. It strengthens sustainable economic growth perspectives at the national level including employment (especially to reduce poverty for low-income sections of the population; also with a focus to develop SMEs in rural areas and, as such, it further contributes to reducing the disparity between rural areas and Kigali), skills development and export earnings (EDPRS-2 targets). Here is an insight of how the sub sector is performing

T

Performance

he Mining sub sector plays an important role in terms of supporting private sector development (industry) as indicated in the Vision 2020. In recent years, mineral export earnings (2013 U$226.2 million, 2014 US$ 210.7 Million, 2015 $149.1 Million, 2016 US$ 166 million) have surpassed coffee and tea earnings such that mining is now the second highest foreign exchange earner of the country (after tourism).

It thus also plays an essential role in decreasing Rwanda’s negative external trade balance.

Over 80% of the mining sector in Rwanda is operated by artisanal and Small Scale Miners. Today we have at least 548 operational mine sites and 130 mining companies and 30 mining cooperatives. The sector is currently employing at least 30,000 excluding those that work in quarry mines.

Livelihoods of nearby communities have been improved through salaries of the employees, appropriate, medical insurance etc

have been recently conducted in the whole country and came up with some important Strategic Targeted Areas (STAs). Detailed exploration in 6 STAs is planned to come up with resources estimation which will be commercialised.

Progress Rwandan Government through RBM is currently setting a major focus on mineral exploration and resource evaluation, as a critical base to ensure and grow the mining sector’s contribution to the national economy.

In addition to past exploration explorations works , Air-borne surveys

•

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Building capacities A key challenge in mining sector is the limited capacity (skills, technology) of artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), who represent the dominant contribution to the national miners’ workforce, with regards to mineral exploration and resource evaluation.

So far, the Government has repeatedly contracted international consultants to train miners on best practices and improving mineral processing; however, such kinds of interventions are relatively short-term. Continuous engagement strategy which was done by the government required for sustained long-term capacity development include:

• •

Training of professionals in mining related subject abroad and quickly Participate in establishing local degree and diploma courses on mining related subjects.

Establishing mining related technical courses through apprenticeship and VTCs

Sustainable extraction If mining is not carried out sustainably, wIf mining is not carried out sustainably, what is earned from the sub-sector can be neutralised by the high cost that could be required in restoring what has been negatively affected. It is from this background that we work with REMA to strictly enforce environmental standards in the mining sub-sector. For example, all large mining projects will require an approved EIA/environmental auditing plan approved by REMA; and all small miners will require an approved EMP before exploration license is issued.

Alongside enforcement, joint awareness campaigns with REMA among the miners are carried out for them to

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

A mining site where individuals are admiring some gemstones

2. The new Mining law, Mineral royalty tax law and related ministerial decrees were published 3. Research aimed at mapping out the country’s mineral natural resources

understand and appreciate the positive relationship between good environment management and development.

Processes and procedures of leasing out mining concessions Any person who applies for a mineral or quarry license shall fill appropriate forms provided by the Institution.

These forms contain the requirements to get mining concession at least the following information: 1° identification of the applicant; 2° proposed location of activities; 3° a document describing the action plan, its implementation and costs; 4° strategies and timeframe for the execution of each activity; 5° planned investment and proof of its source;

6° employees and the level of their qualifications; 7° proof of tax clearance; 8° Environment impact assessment (EIA) or Environment management plan (EMP) Currently we have about 537 licenses Major achievements in the Mining Sub Sector 1. Value addition to mining and quarry products 1.

2.

3 projects on marble, sand and clay were designed and submitted to RDB for investor’s attraction.

Quarry products value addition factories established namely East African Granite Industries, etc

With the aim of strengthening research aimed at mapping out the country’s potential minerals such as gold, nickel, copper, platinum, tin, wolfram, Colombo tantalite and increase the mining products at least threefold.

Over the ending 7 years, researches in different areas have been conducted and the following findings were made: 1. Sediment, soil and rock sampling has been completed..

2. Mineral exploration in seven 7 mineral Prospective Target Areas (PTAs): Nyagatare, Kirehe, Nyabisindu, Nyanza completed and exploration in 3 PTAs: Rulindo, Bugesera and Mwogo ongoing with further exploration works in delineated potential areas with PTAs. 15 minerals are being explored for, they include tin, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, gold, and nickel, copper.

3. Works are ongoing to update the mineral inventory of Rwanda and the National mineral map through airborne survey.

4. A national mining cadastre system for efficient and effective management of mineral and quarry titles has been developed and is now operational at central level with current connectivity to all Districts and other third parties dealing with mining such as RRA, NIDA and RDB. 5. Data are being collected in order to produce an update on the national estimated mineral resources and reserves 6. The holders of the mineral exploration licenses conduct mineral research works with a focus on tin, tungsten, tantalum, gold and gemstones.

7. The former Government concessions have been divided into small manageable mining perimters and tendered and many of them have got new investors who are currently in operations for development .

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3. Increasing mineral production and environmental protection The target was the production of 7,200 tons/ annually worth 96 Million USD, although the production declined since 2014 due to international mineral price fluctuations.

4. Capacity building programmes in mining With the aim of improving professionalism and increasing skills, the Mining sector initiated capacity building programmes for relevant human resource in the fields of mines, geology, petroleum and Gas and the following achievements were made: • • • •

Introduction of the school of mining and Geology at the University of Rwanda.

The first intake is now in the 2nd year.

Introduction of the Mining Engineering Department at the IPRC Kigali. The first intake has already graduated in the 3-year programmes and now is serving the mining operators across the country. iRwandan Young Professionals have been trained in different fields of mining through Strategic Capacity Building Initiative (SCBI) and they were retained in many Government positions after training by assigned international experts.

Scholarships were provided to Rwandans for study abroad in field of oil, gas, geology and mining and most of them have graduated. Small scale miners were trained in mining techniques and in management of mines.

5. Study on Oil and Gas Over the past years, the Mining sector continued to carry out researches with the aim of completing the initiated study on oil and gas. This part highlights the achievements; • • • • • •

Airborne gravity and magnetic survey data already processed and interpreted; 2D survey completed with a total number of 11 lines, processed and interpreted; A petroleum policy available A petroleum law available An upstream Petroleum Sharing Agreement has been drafted; A Geochemical survey is ongoing for updating the existing upstream petroleum data in lake Kivu.

6. All mineral exports from Rwanda are traceable through the tagging system currently accepted by the downstream buyers of the minerals.

Addressing mining sector challenges The key obstacles currently faced by the industry include; • • • • • •

Lack of the knowledge of the national mineral and quarry products potential; There is need to update the national potential in order to plan for the resource in the national development agenda; Very few professionals and technicians in the sector; this sub- sector needs at least 80 professionals and about 400 middle level technicians to operate optimally; the current capacity is far below that number; Weak Mining and Exploration licensing system and insufficient inspection capacity to enforce good practice; Low level of financing of local mining companies/cooperatives; Low level of investment in industrial minerals and rocks; Little participation of local financial institutions in direct investment in the mining sector;

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

How RMB are addressing the mentioned obstacles faced by mining • • • • • • •

• •

Conduct surveys in geology and mining based on major national priorities Publish research findings in geology and mining Facilitate the establishment of standards in mining Train employees in matters relating to mines and quarries Supervise and monitor private and public mining, trade, and value added to mining products Contribute to the formulation of policies, laws and strategies related geology and mines.

Assure the promotion of appropriate technology aimed at the development of geology and mining Assure the valorisation of mining products and quarries Assist the government in the valorisation of mining and quarry concessions

Mining sector in the next 10 years It is envisaged that the mining sector in the not so distant future will have moved from artisanal to semimechanised mining with about 60,000 jobs created and processing and refineries of minerals available with at least more than 50% of minerals exported from Rwanda processed.

Efforts are also being scaled up to ensure that geological information on mineral resources is available while the mining sector contribution to GDP will have increased from 1.6% to 5.27%. At least export revenues generated from mining will have tripled up to US$ 600 million.

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A clean green environment is everyone’s responsibility Rwanda has taken good strides towards Green Growth; mainstreaming climate resilience and low carbon development into key sectors of the economy for sustainable growth.

From banning polythene bags 10 years ago, introducing mandatory vehicle emissions testing, to restoring marshlands as well as adopting the comprehensive Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy-a framework for mainstreaming climate change and the green growth approach in national socio-economic planning, the government has continued to register eloquent results in adapting to climate change.

The New Times engaged several people from different sectors on what Rwanda needs more of to sustainably ensure green growth with testimonies of how climate change mitigation efforts have put bread on the table for some through providing “green jobs.”

Louise Musabyimana, 21, Casual work at Nyandungu Eco-Tourism Park Project Environmental protection projects have not only safeguarded our climate but provided jobs for so many people as you can see (pointing to dozens of her fellow workers).

Some people might not see it but seasons have changed with longer sunshine spells and dangerous heavy rain pours which is indeed a signal that climate change is real. It is good that our country is doing all it can to mitigate climate change and protect our environment. I am happy to play my part too.

Thomas Nzamwita, 35, Casual work at Nyandungu Eco-Tourism Park Project Environmental protection projects like this one of creating Nyandungu Eco-Tourism Park is benefiting in so many ways. It creates jobs, improves the beauty of our city and mitigates climate change.

I have been working here for the last 6 months. I get a daily wage which has helped me take care of my family.

Egidia Nyirahitimana, Mother of 4 and Street Cleaner I take pride in doing my job because I know it speaks volumes about the beauty of our city and the image of our nation at large. To me, a clean street is like having clean home; safe and suitable for the users. I know we don’t have polythene papers in the country but there are some litters that could be hazardous to our environment and therefore cleaning streets is another way of ensuring safe environment. Ensuring safe environment is everyone’s responsibility and so I hope we can work together towards that cause.

Isma Shyaka, Auto Spare parts dealer Motorists have a role to play to ensure that our environment is safe from dangerous vehicle emissions.

The government has put up regulations and I think it is important we all cooperate to ensure a safe environment for generations to come. I think it is good that everyone takes responsibility for safe environment.

Savio Viateure, Automotive mechanic With the consistent and mandatory vehicle emissions testing campaigns launched by the government, we have also been compelled to advise our clients to take precautions on safeguarding environment through carrying out thorough checks on motor emissions as well as advising them on how best they can keep their engines cleaner and safe not to destroy the environment. We all know that a cleaner environment means healthy lives. It is everyone’s responsibility to play their part in that regard.

We understand that the government is in talks with some South African Company (Volkswagen) to introduce environmental-friendly cars. I think such technology will help in mitigating climate change too.

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Environment Sustainability Program What is sustainability and MTN commitment Business sustainability is a process by which MTN manage financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are referred to as profits, people and planet.

Value to MTN and Our Stakeholders Risk Management

Legal/ Compliance Improvements

Healthy Environment

Operating Cost Reductions

Improved Working/ Living Spaces

To continue incorporate the principles into MTN strategies, policies, procedures and practices to establish a culture of integrity while upholding our key responsibilities to our planet(Environment), share holders, our customers(People& Profit) for long-term and sustainable business success.

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ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Environment Business Sustainability Program Intervention /Risk area

Detailed Description Energy - Energy being one of the most significant office consumption and negatively impacting our current & future environment, we tried to save energy by turning off lights, replacing energy saving lamps with none economic ones. We created awareness among staff to use natural light & air and switch off Air conditioners, Coffee Makers, Computers, Printers, Photocopiers when not in use. We also reduced their numbers in departments & replaced them with multipurpose double page printing in common central positions.

Paper & Toner- to minimize its use we encouraged digital way use of e-mails, tablets, laptops, desktops during /presentations and the implementation of E- payroll.

Waste – waste separation and re-use/ recycle to recover other value before disposal and proper disposal as per REMA standards; Recycling of marketing materials into 2 life products Water – we created awareness for water conservation, stopping unnecessary water leakage in Wash rooms & Kitchen whether at work or outside office.

Travel & Carbon emission- we encouraged efficient use of MTN’s Fleet to reduce on fuel consumption & minimize gas emissions by traveling together, driving smaller cars, no travel where conference bridging, video conference facilities.

Environmental

Sustainability (Planet)

Procurement – ensured no plastics are procured and where not possible minimize the quantities and e-sourcing to minimize environmental impact through the supply chain,.

Products packaging- all new purchase orders were eco-friendly , stopped purchasing vouchers with plastics Digital solutions- Virtual Top Up, Mobile Money, e-learning, e-sourcing, e-conferencing Green events - Conducted events, conferences, meetings and conventions in a way that minimises environmental impacts such as energy use, waste generation, location impact, transport management & carbon emissions. Had MTN Staff support and participate in Quarterly Green Day and Community work on a monthly basis. Specifically MTN Staff have put in place 1 million nursey trees in Rulindo District.

Environment sustainability internal Campaign: Awareness on environment issues and Climate change

BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY : Environment projects status Target

Initiatives Waste MANAGEMENT

50% eco friendly packaging

New eco friendly packaging for airtime card( Adopted by other MTN OPCO)

100% Marketing materials recycled

Recycling flexis in partnership with local companies producing fashion materials with flexis(Billboard materials)

Effective Waste Management

1.

2.

3.

Increase VTU Penetration(90%) Airtime sales on MoMo (25%) Engage suppliers to use bio-degradable materials for products packaging/ airtime, promo materials

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BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY : Environment projects status

Target

Initiatives

Reduce energy consumption by 10%

•

Reduce paper and toner usage by 10% & 90% of printers to be set for double side printing

• •

Implementation of electronic pay slips Configure printers for double sided printing to avoid paper waste and environmental harm

Participate in every Month’s Community Work and Green events & Day every end of a Quarterly

•

Conducting events, conferences, meetings and conventions in a way that minimises environmental impacts such as energy use, waste generation, location impact, transport management & carbon emissions.

Participate in monthly Community work and Green Day on a Quarterly basis to create awareness on environmental issues and contribute to mitigation strategies.

In order to contribute to reforestation MTN Staff have put in place 1 million nursey trees in Rulindo and trees planting and maintenance of a dedicated site in Nyandungu.

• •

• •

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Implementation of car/travel policy and system tracking to reduce our carbon footprint Connect remotes sites on Solar panels R 22 Gaz replaced in all MTN offices.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

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