Recently, the Government of Rwanda has undertaken a deep commitment towards creating legal precedence with the new Organic Law and bolstering institutional support for the conservation of the environment. Sustainable environmental development is a crosscutting issue and highly prioritized by Rwanda. National policy objectives for the management and protection of environmental resources include reducing the proportion of the population dependent on agriculture, the rate of diseases related to environmental degradation, and dependency on non-renewable biomass energy.
The effects of environmental degradation in Rwanda are particularly acute with respect to the living conditions of rural areas and the urban poor. Rural households in particular strongly rely on natural resources as a basis for farming, energy production and housing. Additionally, environment degradation has been severely exacerbated by conflict, repeated population displacement and the clearing of natural areas for the resettlement of refugees from surrounding states since 1994. Because of this, Rwanda has entered the realm of environmental management at a critical point in time, recognizing that the proper management of it’s natural resources is a fundamental requirement for a sustainable existence in the future. It is thus the objective of UNDP Rwanda to support, aid and ensure the forward movement of environmental sustainability.
Rwanda
