As global leaders head to Glasgow, Scotland this weekend for the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference, Rwanda will be hoping that countries increase funding to fight climate change. The summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement “Rwanda is interested in international climate deals because we are also facing climate change effects,” Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, the Minister in Charge of Environment, told The New Times The summit comes at a season Rwanda is facing a combination of unusual dry spells and warming as well as floods. “Least developed countries like Rwanda are facing the effects yet they didn’t play a big role in causing climate change,” said Mujawamariya. Last year Rwanda became the first country to submit its revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and launched its implementation last week. The climate pledges are essential tools to implement the Paris Agreement that was signed in 2015 to reduce global warming to below two degrees celsius. The summit is critical for Rwanda especially in the context of the fact that the country needs $11 billion by 2030 to mitigate climate change and build resilience to it. “We also expect a lot from the conference, such as transparency in the carbon market. Rwanda seeks that through the carbon market, there be finance to build resilience to climate change in developing nations including Rwanda,” Mujawamariya said, “The big emitting countries should also comply with mobilizing $100 billion annually to poor countries.” Carbon market means, for example, those who can plant forests or other climate mitigation measures that reduce carbon emissions can be awarded for it by big emitters of such gases. “If a farmer has 500 hectares of forest that reduces carbon dioxide, a developed country that is a big emitter can provide money to the farmer. The farmer has to work with the government,” she said. At COP26, Mujawamariya said, it is expected that countries will agree on how to monitor and evaluate the implementation progress on reducing gas emissions and reporting period to ensure transparency. Mujawamariya said that Rwanda pledged to reduce gas emissions by 38 per cent up to 2030. In Rwanda most of the gas emissions come from the agriculture sector. “Some emissions come from chemical fertilisers, transport sector and waste,” says Faustin Munyazikwiye, the Deputy Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority. During rumination, cattle also emit methane gas which causes a bigger gas emission. Rwanda is part of an African group of negotiators representing the interests of the continent at COP26. “Rwanda needs technology transfer for mitigating and adapting to climate change,” he said, making the case for increasing climate finance. Loss and damage debate in COP26 During COP26, Munyazikwiye said that negotiators want developed countries to compensate for damages caused by climate change in poor countries by 2025 under a framework dubbed “Loss and Damage”. The compensation policy debate dubbed is founded on the fact that developed countries have contributed highly to the causes of climate change and therefore should compensate poor countries. The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts was established at the COP19 UN climate conference in November 2013 to address losses and damage in developing countries. The mechanism’s role was recognized in 2015 in Article 8 of the Paris Agreement and was reviewed in 2019 at COP25, during which developing countries demanded that it be enhanced and strengthened, to include additional finance from developed countries. However, consensus was not reached on developed countries’ obligations. This technical issue is set to be discussed further at the COP26 conference. According to Charles Karangwa, the Regional Technical Coordinator, Forests Landscapes and Livelihoods at IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa climate change is now being seen by many countries including the USA that has recently rejoined the Paris Agreement. “In Rwanda, unusual dry spells are being experienced in parts of the country such as Eastern province. We need to build resilience to climate change effects. On the other side we need to mitigate climate change such as through greening the transport sector and other sectors that could help Rwanda reduce gas emissions by 38 per cent in 10 years,” he said. Abias Maniragaba, an Environmental Economics Lecturer at the University Of Lay Adventists Of Kigali (INILAK) said that green buildings, greening agriculture, embracing solar energy among others to ensure green economy and reduce carbon emissions requires enough finance. Out of the $11 billion climate finance Rwanda needs, it is expected that $4.155 billion will be sourced from domestic financing while $6.885 billion must be sourced from external financing.
