Minister Mujawamariya highlights Major Achievements as she officiates the Environment and Natural Resources Sector Meeting

Rwanda’s Minister of Environment Dr. Mujawamariya Jeanne d’Arc has officiated for her first time the meeting which brought together Development Partners to Discuss Mainstreaming Environment and Climate Change into development programmes.

The Newly appointed Minister for Environment said “As my first official event with the Ministry of Environment, it’s also a pleasure to meet many of you. Thank you for taking time to join us and I am very much looking forward to discussing our shared priorities and how we can work together to achieve them.”

Minister Mujawamaliya previously served as the Ambassador of Rwanda to Russia. She replaces Dr. Vincent Biruta who is now Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In her speech addressed to development partners on Tuesday, Minister Mujawamaliya explained that “For two decades, Rwanda has been working hard to elevate environmental and climate change issues in our national discussions and development agenda. “

She added that “We understand the critical role that our natural environment plays as a foundation for sustainable socio-economic transformation. That’s why we have put in place a robust policy and legal framework as well as strong and capable institutions.”

Mujawamariya promises teamwork towards the sustainable protection of environment noting that “As Rwanda’s economy grows quickly, however, we need to mainstream environment and climate change into decision making and the national development agenda. “

Rwanda Ministry of Environment during the helm of previous Ministers has achieved impressive results thanks to the existing synergy across the sector .

Minister Mujawamariya highlighted that “For example, we banned single-use plastics to promote alternative packaging solutions, achieved 30% forest coverage, rehabilitated thousands of hectares of degraded lands and catchments, launched e-mobility solutions for cars and motorbikes and introduced new policies for environment and climate change, forestry as well as land. We also adopted one of the world’s first national cooling strategies which will help us achieve our climate action targets and the Kigali Amendment.”

The Central African country has been investing much effort in the management of the environment and Natural resources as the foundation of sustainable economic growth.

However Minister Mujawamariya said that many sectors are still operating with a business as usual approach.

She emphasized that “More needs to be done to ensure the environment and climate change are considered in the policies, strategies, projects and programmes being developed in all sectors of the economy.”

“As major development partners, we count on your support to make this a reality.” She said