The Nile Basin Development Forum (NBDF) has called on Rwandans to adopt climate change resilience measures to mitigate climate change and carry on their activities in a sustainable manner.
The message was conveyed on recently during a forum that centered around ways of mitigating climate change effects.
The NBDF coordinator John Gakumba, argued that there are climate change mitigations that can assure resilience and sustainably harvest from the environment without compromising future generations.
“It is potation important that we harvest from the environment with caution. So adoption of resilient practices and adaptation to new technologies and environmental aggregates are inevitable,” he advises.
Gakumba also demonstrated Community based climate change adaptation mechanisms that NBDF has utilized to educate residents of Gatsibo district, Kirehe and Bugesera districts to counter climate changes effects.
“We have helped citizens to meet nutrition needs through kitchen backyard gardens (uturima tw’igikoni), we have donated solar power equipment, we have built for them traditional stoves that are fuel-saving to avoid deforestation and tipped them on the best ways of rainwater harvesting and keeping it longer in reservoirs.”
Some beneficiaries of the program have expressed satisfaction of increased knowledge on mitigating climate change effects and advised for the program to reach all Rwandans.
“We have built our knowledge levels on how we can utilize tree planting in the prevention of soil erosion and why trees are more than just construction and cooking items. We appreciate the project for having saved our woods,” says Gakazi Jennifer, a resident of Nyagatare district.
MUSONI Didace, Division Manager of Data Observations, Quality Control and Processing Division at Rwandan Meteorology Agency highlighted the need to address climate changes effects as they impact health, agriculture and other development activities.
On 30th November, 2015 an international meeting will be held in France to seek common ground among all nations of the world to address climate change.
Leave a Reply