Rwanda readies for climate change fund

Rwanda has laid out clear strategies of utilizing resources from a proposed climate change fund for poor countries in Africa, a senior government official has said. Vincent Karega, the State Minister in charge of Environment and Mines said in an interview that the funds, would help in rebuilding the country’s degraded ecosystems. A two-week climate change summit will begin next week in Copenhagen, Denmark where world leaders have proposed a multi-billion-dollar fund to help developing nations effectively handle effects of climate change. Karega, who also added that Rwanda will be represented at the summit by a high level delegation, said that the money could as well be channelled to handle energy programmes to help the country’s rural poor. “If we got such funds, we would look at agricultural development and reforestation,” the minister added. A report by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) on the economics of climate change in Rwanda, recently revealed that climate change has had a significant setback on the economy, especially over the past four years. The research which was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) assessed the impact of the various climate change conditions such as carbon emissions, droughts and floods. But Karega expressed optimism that leaders at the summit will further root for determination by development countries to significantly reduce carbon emissions, which have dealt negative impacts on Africa’s development agenda. Climate change experts have pointed out that developing countries need over $30bn annually to deal with effects of climate change. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have already raised their voices saying that the proposed fund should go towards helping developing nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. Ends

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Rwanda readies for climate change fund