Rwanda like, just like other countries around the world, is faced with the threat of climate change. Every year heavy rains claim people’s lives, and destroy crops, homes and infrastructure. Experts have warned that disasters across the world are likely to increase over the coming years as a result of global warming. In Rwanda, efforts to mitigate the problem of climate change have been ongoing, among them plans to achieve a forest cover of 30 per cent of the country’s total land area, by 2020. Forests are known to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increasing forest cover has been envisaged as one of the measures to mitigate climate change. However, while concerted efforts are being undertaken to mitigate the effects of climate change, a lot still needs to be done in terms of sensitising the population about the problem at hand. For instance, we still have people who insist on staying in high risk areas even when alternatives have been put in place to relocate them to safer areas to avoid loss of lives and destruction of property. More climate adaptation strategies need to be put in place, especially at the grassroots level. Local leaders need to sensitise people to keep off activities that may lead to climate change and its devastating effects. For every tree cut, people should plant two or more trees. Cutting trees is a recipe for disaster and yet many ordinary people in the countryside cut trees mainly for fuel. The National Green Growth and Climate Resilient Strategy, which outlines approaches to be used in order to ensure a green and climate resilient Rwanda, should be taken to every village in the country. It’s everyone’s duty to ensure that as a country we succeed in implementing the national strategy on mitigating climate change.
