Category: Environment

{{Israel is helping Rwanda to save millions of dollars a year through recycling and green technology.}}

For its first twenty five years in existence, Israel engaged in a massive program to bring its agricultural expertise to the African continent. Israelis, many of whom had pioneered new farming techniques on kibbutzim, went to Africa to share their knowledge.

But this program came to a sudden end after 1973’s Yom Kippur War when Arab Nations put pressure on African Nations to sever all ties with Israel.

Today the Israel-Africa relationship has made a comeback. Now the assistance that Israel is providing the neighboring continent comes in the field of green and echo friendly new technologies in which the Jewish State has become one of the world’s foremost innovators.

Rwanda says that it will save more than $400,000 annually from collecting and recycling water, use of solar energy, and use of technology to save papers. It will spend $1.8 million to facilitate the program, referred to as the Green Parliament, where the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, will share its expertise.

The Knesset Director General, Ronen Plot said they began with installing a 4,650 sqm solar array on Rwanda’s parliament rooftop in January 2014. He led a 7-member delegation of lawmakers from the Knesset.

With the solar facility, which includes a water heater, incandescent bulbs in the building have been replaced with power saving LEDs. Sosthene Cyitatire, the Rwanda Senate Clerk said the parliament will save $7,500 on electricity per month.

The Knesset is also helping with paper saving techniques by using internet in committee discussions and plenaries instead of piles of printed papers. Rwanda has 106 legislators – all with 3G connected laptops. Over 50,000 pages per year will be saved.

The two countries say that they are forging stronger bilateral ties, largely shaped by shared interest; historical and political. They have faced the worst catastrophes in human history. Over 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Rwanda’s 1994 genocide wiped out over one million Tutsi in 100 days.

The Israeli delegation in Rwanda last week visited the Kigali Memorial Center, where 300,000 Tutsi genocide victims are laid. Plot said: “We are not only brothers, but twins. We share a common destiny.”

Energiya Global, the world’s leading investor in solar fields, has invested $23.7m in a 8.5MW plant.

JEWISH BUSINESS WEEK

{ Rwanda and the World Bank today signed US$ 9.5 million to help boost land management of Gishwati and Mukura forests, improve the environment, local livelihoods, and climate resilience.}

Gishwati and Mukura area lost most of its natural forest in recent decades, and has suffered from severe soil erosion, landslides and floods. But some patches of native forest remain, alongside important biodiversity, including a small population of chimpanzees.

The objective of the Landscape Approach to Forest Restoration and Conservation Project is to restore the degraded Gistwati-Mukura landscape, increasing tree cover, restoring indigenous woodland in deforested areas enhancing the biodiversity of the remaining degraded forest reserves and providing global environmental benefits.

The financing in the form of grants from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) will increase the number and diversity of trees to help improve soil fertility, stabilize slopes, regulate stream flow and expand the resource base for local livelihoods.

Overall, the project is expected to cost US$ 12 million with Government of Rwanda counter fund of US$ 2.6 million.

Speaking after the signing event the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete said the project will help to promote direct and indirect economic values to landscape management that go beyond local agricultural output, and include tourism and protection of water resources for energy and water supply.

“We cannot achieve sustainable development at the expense of the environment,” Minister Gatete said.

The project will be implemented by Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) within a period of 5 years.

World Bank Country Manager for Rwanda Carolyn Turk said, “The World Bank is delighted to be contributing to the sustainable development of Rwanda through this new operation. Rwandese people living fragile physical environments, such as the area around Gishwati and Mukura, struggle with interlinked problems of water management, declining soil fertility and issues associated with diminishing biodiversity. The project will provide integrated solutions to these challenges and help to boost the livelihoods of some of the poorest households in Rwanda.”

ARI

{Images from NASA’s Terra satellite have revealed some alarming results. The Aral Sea, which once was the fourth largest lake in the world, is almost completely dry, The Independent reports.}

The lake was once fed by two major rivers, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, which flowed through the Kyzylkum Desert, meeting at the basin’s end. Scientists attribute the Aral Sea’s decline to an irrigation project by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, which took water from the rivers to turn the desert into a farmland for cotton. The desert thrived, but the Aral Sea didn’t fare as well.

The images, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on the Terra satellite, reveal that the Aral Sea’s eastern lobe has completely dried up. NASA began collecting the images in 2000, when the effects of the ’60s-era project were already evident. The photos show that the Northern Aral Sea separated from the Southern Aral Sea, and the lake has become “a fraction of what it had been before the irrigation project started,” according to The Independent.

After the north and south parts of the lake became divided, the lake’s eastern lobe completely dried up in 2014, NASA found. The lake’s retreat has caused trouble for the local communities, too — the water that’s still in the Aral Sea has been polluted with fertilizer and pesticides, causing a public health hazard, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. And “to compound matters, more water has been taken from the rivers to flush out the cropland affected by the contaminated dust that had blown up from the lakebed,” The Independent notes, leading to colder winters and warmer summers.

“This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times,” Philip Micklin, an Aral Sea expert at Western Michigan University, said in a statement for NASA’s Earth Observatory. “And it is likely the first time it has completely dried in 600 years.”

Agencies

{ {{24 September 2014}} – Addressing the General Assembly today at its annual general debate, the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, said the success of the Millennium Development Goals framework illustrated the ongoing strength of international cooperation and called on the public and private sectors to follow a similar method to worked together on climate change. The world must look forward to a future where countries do not have to choose between clean energy and economic growth, he said.}

On other pressing matters, he said World leaders must do more to address crises in Africa and the Middle East, adding that physical security and national identity were vital to sustainable nation-building and international peace and security.

Without them, gains in good governance would continue to suffer and erode, Mr. Kagame said. Change takes time; there are no short-cuts. Governments must include people in political processes. Good governance cannot flourish without the voices and concerns of people reflecting realities.

Managing diversity in societies and politics requires international commitment, he said, while noting negative experiences of nationalism are creating doubt about patriotism and national identity. Today, more than ever before, national identities are weak. In actuality, regionalism and religions have become the dominant force, tearing nations apart.

Mr. Kagame said his country is focused on building Government institutions that were held to account and on renewing national dignity. Rwandans are optimistic people who have faith in their Government and institutions, he added.

This year’s theme for the annual debate is “Delivering on and implementing a transformative post-2015 development agenda.” Made up of all the 193 Member States of the United Nations, the General Assembly provides a forum for multilateral discussion of international issues covered by the UN Charter.

{Rwanda joined the world to celebrate the International Day for the preservation of the Ozone Layer, a day set out to raise awareness on the ozone layer importance and ways to protect it.
}

This year’s theme being: “Ozone Layer Protection: The Mission Goes On”, Rwanda is gratified to have taken an excellent step forward in regard to reducing the use of Ozone depleting substances; and calls for joint efforts to achieve their total phase-out by 2020.

“As we celebrate this day, let us reflect on the significant progress made by our Country in reducing the use of Ozone depleting substances, and strive to achieve the set target of phasing them out by 2020,”said Dr. Rose Mukankomeje, Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).

Rwanda has achieved more than the average of the requirements set by the Montreal Protocol on the Protection of the Ozone Layer to which it is signatory since 2003. The Montreal Protocols requirements of having no use of ozone depleting substances in the chemical family of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in developing countries by 2010; have been achieved in 2009,a year before the set target.

Rwanda is now working on phasing out Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), gases used in cooling equipment, which scientific research revealed that they contain ozone-destroying chlorine and are strong greenhouse gases with a high global warming potential. This is in line with the Protocol’s requirements of phasing-out these gases by 2040.

“We started controlling illegal importation of HCFCs through allocating importation quotas to importers. Controlling and the quotas are allocated in a decreasing manner such that 30% phase down of HCFCs is achieved by 2015, and a total phase-out is registered by 2020,”Mukankomeje further noted.

It is worth to mention that in 2012, Rwanda received an award from the Ozone Secretariat of the United Nations Environment Program, for her outstanding contribution to the preservation of the ozone layer.

According to Juliet KABERA, the National Focal Person on Ozone Layer; this year’s Ozone Day celebrations in Rwanda will be focused on awareness raising of the general public and the business community on HCFCs phase-out as well as alternative refrigerants available on the market.

“This year’s celebrations, we intend to involve the major importers of HCFCs and its dependent equipment because it is through their continued cooperation that we will be able to achieve the set HCFCs phase-out targets,” Mrs Kabera said.

Activities to celebrate the International Ozone Layer Day include:

A walk through the city center geared at raising curiosity and awareness of the business community. This walk is scheduled for today 16th September starting at 9:00 am to 11:00 am and will comprise REMA staff, students from the IPRC Kigali and refrigeration technicians of Kigali. The itinerary for the walk is: SAMSUNG show room at Muhima – The main roundabout of the city – Bank of Kigali Headquarters – Quartier Commercial and end at Rubangura house

A consultative meeting of all stakeholders, to take place today from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm; at Mille Collines Hotel. At this meeting stakeholders will assess the progress made and problems encountered in the implementation of the ozone depleting substances (mainly R22) quota system.

An anti-ozone depleting substances campaign at the major shopping centres mainly NAKUMATT, SIMBA Super Market, SAMSUNG Rwanda, SONY, LG; which has been conducted by REMA in collaboration with the IPRC Kigali; on 12th and 13th September 2014.

The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is celebrated every year on 16th September, as proclaimed by the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994. Since then, the Parties have used this day to celebrate the signing of the Montreal Protocol, and the significant environmental and health benefits that this treaty has yielded. Rwanda as signatory to the Montreal Protocol has been celebrating Ozone Day for over nine years.

Ozone Layer prevents excessive exposure of the earth to ultra violet rays. When ozone Layer gets depleted, the UV rays from the sun reach the earth directly without any shielding and likely to cause; skin cancer, eye cataracts, reduced immunity, affect plants’ nutrients distribution and metabolism and by extension the animals that feed on them, as well as disruptions in the marine food chain.

Thus, it is recommended to avoid all actions that contribute to the Ozone Layer depletion, specifically stop using ozone depleting substances in the chemical family of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs &HCFCs) which are mainly used in air conditioners, in building, cars, cold rooms and few refrigerators. Recommended environmental- friendly refrigerants are mainly R600A gases and R290 gases, among others.

REMA

A human being is one of tritons of living organisms that inhabit the earth. As a senior living organism which governs and takes control over the nature, human being is associated with most of physical and biological changes that appear on the earth.

Normally, all living organisms need food to grow, reproduce, move, and perform different metabolic activities that enable it to stay healthy. A living organism gets food from the nature. Once the nature is stressed, the life on earth is stressed too. Sometimes, a human being as an umbrella and reasonable organism doesn’t remember that he is responsible for the protection of the nature against different kinds of stress. Yet, some of his activities are the main source of this stress.

The main stress the nature is facing today is the climate change. Such situation results in developing countries to become highly vulnerable. To illustrate, changing rainfall patterns contribute to frequent and severe flooding in Rwanda to a higher extent. Elsewhere, there is a theoretical link between climate change and rainfall even though it’s hard to find clear evidence as the record of measurements is short and doesn’t cover all parts of the country.

The field of agriculture is severely compromised due to loss of land, shorter growing seasons, and more uncertainty about what and when to plant. For example, in Northern Province of Rwanda, in Musanze district, closer to the road ahead to Rubavu near Byangabo center, there is a severe flooding in a valley which was formerly a very productive soil for the neighboring population in terms of food crops.

When you reach that area, you can realize that it is a dry valley which is now becoming a swamp, as the local people revealed that this water appears there since three years. This may be supported by rainfall data collected by the national center of meteorology in areas covered by Busogo station, which shows that there has been an increase of the annual precipitation five years ago compared to the years before 2008. The water covers the land after each heavy rainfall because of much water running from slopes of the surrounding hills. This flood destroys all agricultural activities in the valley, because the water level can reach 50 cm above the soil.

Would you mind taking responsibility to fight against climate change? Is it worth acting? How do you expect the nature to be for example in the next 50 years? Government officers, business owners, people from finance institution and civil society will be gathered at the UN head office on this September 23 to the Climate Summit to share their commitments and fought that can slow down the rate of climate change. What would be your message if you selected to be on the panel to this summit? What do you think your leaders should emphasize on, on behalf of their people?

I think it is a concern of all of us to work hand in hand, both public and private institutions, business owners and non-governmental organizations to adapt to and mitigate the climate change so that we can continue to develop and lift ourselves out of poverty and ensure the food security. It is important to advocate for fight against climate change and any of its factors. It is therefore imperative to advocate for the reduction of green house gases emission, removal or reduction of human activities that exert any kind of stress to the nature (like deforestation, illegal mining, etc), forestation and reforestation by promoting the spirit of “cut one and plant three”, etc. Family planning is something we cannot forget as we are talking about climate change mitigation, only that the more the population increases, the more the nature degrade the reason being that they need too much from the nature to survive; hence the climate change is inevitable.

We should transmit our intact nature to the next generation if we are unable to make it better.
Let us act locally, and impact globally.

{Uganda together with Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have joined efforts to strengthen security around Virunga Forest Park.}

The three countries are holding a two-day Greater Virunga Trans boundary Collaboration (GVTC) meeting in Kampala, to come up with joint measures to strengthen the security around the protected area across borders.

While opening the meeting at Mosa Courts, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) boss, Andrew Seguya said the issue of security is paramount to safe guard the Wildlife in the forest park.

“The issue of insecurity in DRC led to death of many elephants but on the Ugandan side poaching has greatly reduced. We are working with communities around the park and providing other alternative livelihoods to fight poaching,” he noted.

He said the strategy has yielded a lot of benefits and boosted tourism.

Seguya noted that the end of war in DRC has reduced the problem of poaching.

Investigations by UWA show that a total of 800 ivory tusks that were intercepted at Entebbe Airport were not from DRC, but were from Tanzania.

Seguya said investigations also indicate that the Rhino horns were also coming from South African.

The Executive Secretary, GVTC, Wilson Kajwengye said there is need to strengthen on the current governing laws to punish poachers when arrested.

“As the region we should strengthen the legislation to curb those who kill the animals and cutting down the forest park,” he said.

The meeting is also discussing sharing of revenue especially on Gorilla families

New Vision