• Rwanda is a landlocked country in East Africa with a topography characterised by steep hills and high mountains.
• Rwanda’s natural wetland, forest, and savannah ecosystems provide a wide range of services that increase the climate resilience of local communities, such as erosion control and flood mitigation.
• There remain many knowledge gaps in Rwanda that limit the use of ‘ecosystem-based adaptation’ – a strategy that draws on nature-based solutions to build climate resilience.
• The project’s main approaches are to: strengthen the capacity of institutions to plan and implement ecosystem-based adaptation; restore degraded ecosystems; and promote climate-resilient livelihoods in Kayonza, Bugesera, Ngororero, Kirehe, Musanze and Gasabo districts.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
• Climate change is negatively affecting rural communities in Rwanda through erratic rainfall and flooding events in the central and northwestern highlands, along with increased mean temperatures that cause rainfall shortages and droughts in the eastern and southern lowlands.
• Global climate models predict that Rwanda’s average temperature may increase to 2.5°C by the 2050s and up to 4°C by the 2080s.
• Consequently, many sectors in Rwanda will be impacted, including agriculture, forestry, health and water. Such effects include a decrease in agricultural yields and water supplies.
• In addition, the unsustainable use of natural resources in certain parts of the country leads to the degradation of natural ecosystems, which reduces their capacity to provide ecosystem services and protect communities from the effects of climate change.
Source: UN Environment Programme