Rwanda and the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute and Carbon Institute have

signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch an international partnership for carbon accounting in Rwanda, according to a statement from the Ministry of Environment.

The agreement was signed yesterday by the Minister for Environment, Vincent Biruta, Prof. Beth Kaplin, Acting Director, Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity & Natural Resource Management at the University of Rwanda and John O. Niles, Director atthe Greenhouse Gas Management Institute and Carbon Institute.

The stakeholders in collaboration with the University of Rwanda, will support Rwanda’s green growth agenda through greenhouse gas accounting programmes that develop an evidence-based for informed climate action.

The agreement will enhance the implementation of Rwanda’s Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy and enable the country to fully participate in international emissions reduction mechanisms.

The seven year partnership will also provide an opportunity for Rwanda to become a regional training center for carbon accounting in the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) regions.

Biruta and John O. Niles sign the pact on Friday. Courtesy.

It will enable the country to fully participate in international emissions reduction mechanisms including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), and the mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).

In addition, the signatories will collaborate to develop an Advanced Terrestrial Carbon Accounting Certificate programme at the University of Rwanda.

"Rwanda supports the development of effective greenhouse gas accounting rules under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The new agreement will support Rwanda to build its internal capacity to measure, monitor, report, and verify greenhouse gas emissions as well as carbon sequestrations,” reads part of the communiqué.

That will allow Rwanda to continue to play a role in global climate action, and create new opportunities for the country, which will include selling carbon credits to raise climate finance in support of its Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy.

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