The Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Environment has signed a five-year agreement with Africa Wildlife Foundation to partner in boosting conservation efforts in the country.

Speaking after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Minister for Environment, Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya said that the partnership will help to sustain what has been achieved and enhance conservation in all protected areas in Rwanda.

"Rwanda has achieved a lot in conservation but we welcome the partnership to enhance conservation efforts. We need to put more effort into conservation. We still need efforts in controlling soil erosion, water catchments, reforestation and forest management, restoring degraded and old forests, conserving national parks and others,” she said.

By increasing efforts in conservation, the minister said there is a need for steps to also register more parks and conserved areas in UNESCO biosphere reserves.

Biosphere reserves promote solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use since they are learning areas for sustainable development under diverse ecological, social and economic contexts.

"For instance, we have Gishwati-Mukura Park that was recently recognized as a world biosphere reserve. We need that all areas that need to be protected and help to cope with climate change be conserved and therefore working with Africa Wildlife Foundation is a boost,” she said.

The Gishwati-Mukura reserve was restored at the cost of $9.5 million since 2014 and it is home to a group of 20 chimpanzees who live alongside golden monkeys, l’hoest’s and blue monkeys.

In total, there are 395 species of birds and 492 indigenous plant species in the park.

Some of areas that will be enhanced through the new deal with AWF, the ministry says, include innovative financing to rehabilitate protected areas, building capacity in fighting climate change and conserving protected areas among others.

Kaddu Sebunya, the CEO of the organisation said that they are going to start developing action plans and programmes that could be implemented around the MoU.

"The MoU is a defining partnership that our organization is going to have with the Ministry of Environment in Rwanda in implementing a lot of things that have to be designed. We bring our experiences and knowledge about conservation from 60 years of operation,” he said.

He said the expectations from the new partnership include seeing biodiversity as part of economic development.

"We want to see biodiversity conservation creating jobs for citizens of Rwanda, that a good number of citizens that live near natural resources, their economies, their households’ income are connected to natural assets,” he said.

He said that Rwanda has leadership steps in the green economy and streamlining biodiversity as part of national development plans.

"Rwanda is ahead of many countries in Africa where we work. Our work here is going to be easier because policies have been done and the implementation is the critical space,” he said.

Sebunya said that they have goals of promoting African leadership, ownership and benefits of conservations.

"We look at conservation of landscape, natural assets to the economic aspirations and In the case of Rwanda, streamlining the role of biodiversity in Rwanda’s development goals and implementing areas that support economic development of Rwanda,” he said.

Expansion of Volcanoes National Park

He said that they are already partnering and working on expansion of Volcano National Park in the Northern Province of Rwanda.

"What that means is really looking at what kind of economy needs to be developed beyond that national park. We are not only looking at parks as parks for tourism or parks for wildlife but these are parks for assets for our national development whether it is direct assets like revenues from tourism or sources of water or climate control for our environment. All these are assets and needs,” he noted.

The organization has been intervening, all over Africa, in protecting critical endangered species from poaching and illegal trade, fighting climate change, conserving wildlife and its habitat as well as degraded land while also providing new economic opportunities that reduce threats to wildlife and habitats.