Rwanda Natural Resources Minister’s Remarks for the 2017 International Days of Forests and Water

Rwanda's Minister of Natural Resources Dr. Vincent Biruta (Photo: Ange de la Victoire)

Good morning to you all!

I have the pleasure to welcome you to this important meeting to mark two international days:

The international Forests Day whose theme is, “ Forests and Energy”, and 
 The World Water day with the theme, ‘’ Water and Waste Water”

The linkages between forests, water, economic productivity and ecosystems are inextricable. Forests play a dominant role in the provision of ecosystem goods and services and provide precious ecological, economic, social and health benefits. Forest ecosystems play an important role in the hydrological cycle, buffer large quantities of water and provide high quality water in a sustainable manner.

1.       Forests stabilize soils, reduce soil erosion and sedimentation, serve as a natural purification system and mitigate the risks of landslides and floods.  These functions contribute to the sustainable management of catchments and landscapes, preventing degradation of precious land leading eventually to desertification and salinization.

2.      Approximately 59% of Rwanda’s electricity is generated from hydropower and most of the power generation projects are a result of public private partnerships between government and independent power producers showing the added value of the natural accounts of water and forests to Rwanda’s GDP. 

3.      In short, forests provide precious ecological, economic, social and health benefits and help to protect watersheds.  Healthy watersheds or catchments are the basis for agriculture which accounts for 36% of GDP, 80% of employment and generates more than 45% of the country’s export revenues.

4.      The Government of Rwanda recognizes the importance of forests and water in sustaining the country’s economy and people’s livelihoods. In this connection, a number of national forest policy documents are being finalised, that is, revised forest policy, forest strategic plan, national forest management plan and a national forest seed strategy in addressing the major challenges identified in the recently national forest inventory related to inadequate forest management practices and low forest productivity most especially for private owned forests that take 68% of forest cover.

5.      Rwanda presents a unique opportunity for the forest investment program to demonstrate results in a densely populated, rapidly growing country with extremely valuable forest landscapes threatened by development pressures. Rwanda's population relies heavily on forest resources for wood fuel, charcoal and for sawn wood due to its rapidly developing economy and the construction boom in the country.

6.      The EICV 4 (2013/2014) shows that 83.3 % of the Rwandan population use fuelwood for cooking. Sustaining the wood stock and production amidst a growing population and high demand for forest products requires improved and sustainable management models that seek to optimize ecological and economic benefits. The energy sector in Rwanda is developing a transformational agenda for energy with a focus on promotion of biogas, solar energy and liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The Forestry, Water and Energy sectors provide investment opportunities for the private sector.

7.      Rwanda has pledged to restore 2 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020 through Agroforestry, sustainable management of existing woodlots, protection and restoration of natural forest ecosystems and establishing protective forests. Implementation of these transitions will contribute towards multiple sustainable development objectives, including: increased agricultural productivity, food security, rural incomes, improved water supplies, increased resilience to climate change, and reduced vulnerability to landslides, floods and other disasters.

8.      Given that 70% of Rwanda’s exports are agricultural, Forest and Landscape Restoration is a development obligation in order to sustain many other sectors of the economy such agribusiness, hydro power production, manufacturing, mining, and the service sector, to mention but a few.

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

9.      As you know, The Eastern province is facing recurrent problems of water stress due in part by perturbation of hydrological cycle. Water in rivers, lakes is becoming more and more a serious problem especially during the dry season for human consumption, livestock and ecosystems. Improved water storage is therefore an important issue in the National Water Master Plan. The recently developed Rain Water Harvesting strategy helps Rwanda as well to overcome the problems of drought. As explained earlier, water is very much interlinked with forests.  Comprehensive actions of afforestation, moreover agro forestry with large involvement of local communities can play a role in solving issues of water scarcity. We need to combine our efforts to come up with sustainable solutions in particular for this region.       

10.   Government and Development Partners cannot take on the landscape and catchment rehabilitation and water shortages challenge on their own. Making sustainable and remarkable progress towards the 2020, 2030 and even 2050 targets requires involvement and investment commitment from a wide range of stakeholders. Joint efforts between government, development partners, private sector and civil society are essential to achieve the landmark restoration targets set by the government of Rwanda.

11.   The private sector has the power to save forests and water and generate enormous social, economic and ecological benefits. To date, the business community has played a relatively important role in restoration of deforested and degraded land, however more is to be achieved. Private sector has many of the essential capabilities required to scale up and accelerate landscape restoration such as a hands-on approach, the ability to mobilize local communities and the resources to finance on the ground projects.  The private sector which is a substantial consumer of ecosystems services such as water, energy and wood, needs to  transform their business models and operations in order to avoid economic losses caused by degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide.

12.   Therefore, I take this opportunity to call upon the private sector, the civil society including financial institutions, Energy and Water Producers, Manufacturers, Telecommunication Companies, Mining Companies, the service and industrial sector at large to integrate forestry and water investments in their plans and policies. We shall strive to build stronger partnership between government, development partners, the private sector and civil society in order to raise the momentum for investments in forests and water.

13.   I take this opportunity to thank all our development partners for their collaboration and commitment to implement GoR programmes related to forest and water sub sectors.  Thanks to private sector for participation and contribution to forest and water sectors.

14.   With these few remarks, I declare the symposium on investment opportunities in forests and water officially open and wish you fruitful deliberations.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

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