“The environment is our life-blood; indeed the real surprise is not that ministries of finance are now talking to ministries of environment – but that it has actually taken this long. Even when we look beyond agriculture, tourism, mineral wealth and fisheries, our economies depend critically on good environmental stewardship.”

His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda 2009

Rwanda's ambitious Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy was launched at a UNFCCC side event at CoP17 in Durban.

Rwanda joined Korea, Denmark and China in seeing it as to their competitive advantage to grasp low-carbon development opportunities and transform the way their economies operate. The strategy outlines how adaptation and mitigation actions can be integrated across all sectors of the economy, and puts Rwanda in a stronger position not only to face the twin challenges of climate change and poverty, but to take advantage of the opportunities presented by a low-carbon growth path in a greener global economy. It aims to ensure the future prosperity of every Rwandan citizen.

The green growth and climate resilience strategy was developed over nine months as a collaborative effort among the Government of Rwanda, the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment (SSEE), DFID and CDKN. It stimulated high-level engagement across ministries on climate compatible development, and hundreds of stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society and academia were consulted.

Now Rwanda is designing a national climate change and environment fund to access global financial resources to turn the aspirations of the strategy into reality. The fund will be managed by the Government of Rwanda, allowing the country to support climate strategies that best meet its needs and national priorities.

A new film “Rwanda: Emerging in a Changing Climate", co-produced by CDKN and the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), tells the story of the steps the country has taken to simultaneously develop its economy and address the challenges of climate change.

CDKN funding: £387,000