Yanditswe Mar, 06 2020 11:41 AM | 6,538 Views
At first, the decision to relocate people from
marshlands was considered as rather haphazard. But as time goes by, it turned out to be the best decision because they are high chances that the those who were
forced to evacuate the so-called high-risk zones would have been victims of the
recent heavy rains and floods let alone pausing a threat to the environment
protection efforts.
Theogene Ruremesha spent over 10 years living in a house built in a place considered to be a wetland, in Gasabo district.
Ruremesha admits that seeing a new day was always a gamble.
"Of course life was terrible in that area, it
was possible to sleep and wake up the next day to find your house flooded. At
times you would step on the floor and think you have put your foot in the basin
full of water. It was a very risky place to live in and many times we thought the house would collapse while sleeping,'' Ruremesha said.
Demolishing property and infrastructure in wetlands, imposing a ban on polythene bags and restricting single plastics are some of the measures Rwanda adopted in the 10-year Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy.
Currently, the government of Rwanda is upbeat about the progress made in creating a green economy, positive public perception about climate change mitigation and the increased role of the general public towards environment protection.
Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment said: ''First and Foremost, What Rwanda is happy about is the mindset change of the general public towards the environment,''
Some people, including those that were recently relocated from wetlands, say that despite the fact that it takes time to establish livelihood in a new area, they also acknowledge that it was a wise move on the side of the government of Rwanda to ask them to abandon the high risk zones.
Emmanuel Karangwa said: ''Many people would have died if the government didn’t act swiftly to move people out of the wetlands. Some people died of floods in Cyaruzingi, others lost their property, but it would have been worse if we weren’t asked to move ahead of the rainy season.''
Claude Zibonukuri said: ''It a decision we are all happy about. It is difficult for anyone to even imagine that some people used to live in this place. Everyone is happy about the person who took the decision to move us away from this wetland.''
Apart from protecting wetlands, authorities say that Rwanda has made commendable strides towards Green Growth and Climate Resilience.
Minister Mujawamariya said: ''Budget allocation for environmental protection keeps increasing and the Government of Rwanda has put much effort towards that goal. The other thing we are happy about is seeing more private businesses investing in Rwanda are mindful of climate change mitigation and environmental protection. This is a positive step in the right direction, knowing that we are coming from a point where little attention was paid on the environment matters. ''
Among other objectives that Rwanda committed herself to was to increase national forest cover to 30 percent a feat that was attained in 2018. Other efforts include; protecting water bodies and rivers as well as streamlining mining sector to ensure that it doesn’t jeopardize other natural resources.
Environment regulators say that Rwanda is on the right track and that by 2050, the country would be a green and climate-resilient economy if it keeps moving by the current pathway.
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