Rwanda has announced it will achieve ahead of time its target of planting trees on 30,000 hectares of land by 2018. Most of the trees are planted during the community work Umuganda.
Dr. Rose Mukankomeje, director general of Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) told News of Rwanda that so far the country has planted trees on 24,600 hectares representing 82% of the target.
The REMA boss says that the country’s afforestation plan is in line with its climate change policy.
“We targeted to plant 30,000 hectares of land with trees by 2018. We have already reached over 82% in our aim to keep Rwanda green,” she told this website.
Rwanda was in 2015 ranked the 3rd greenest country in the world by Travel Guide’s report -an international travelogue for tourists and adventurous travelers.
“We want to maintain that momentum through conserving the environment. We are looking at creating and protecting different abandoned islands and turn them into tourism destinations,” Dr. Mukankomeje told News of Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Rwanda will take part at the December climate change summit in Paris, France, where World leaders will lay strategies on fighting global warming.
Before the summit, World governments are expected to agree on post 2015-Sustainable Development Goals targets in September, expected to include on low-carbon and climate resilient measures, among others.
It is expected that the Paris summit will set a target of reducing global warming significantly by 2100.
For Dr. Mukankomeje, REMA is preparing Rwanda’s position on the Paris climate deal, focusing on areas that impact post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
United Nations says Rwanda’s green economy agenda is on track.
“This puts the country in a strong position for effective implementation of SDGs… it will also help push for a self-reliant and sustainable economic transformation,” Lamin Manneh, UN resident coordinator in Rwanda said.