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Rwanda Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment

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Rwanda Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment RWANDA ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES ASSESSMENT Task Order No. 818 under the Biodiversity & Sustainable Forestry (BIOFOR) IQC USAID Contract No. LAG-I-00-99-00014-00 Submitted to: USAID/Rwanda Submitted by: Chemonics International Inc. February 2003 Acknowledgements Rwanda is a complex country with a significant endowment of natural resources managed by a wide variety of institutions. Attempting to describe the “state of the environment” and to analyze threats to Rwanda’s environment and natural resources in only three weeks is a formidable task. Nevertheless, the Environmental Threats and Opportunities Analysis (ETOA) Team believes that it has made a contribution by providing at least a snapshot of what the major environmental issues, threats, and opportunities are today. The consultants that conducted this assessment acknowledge the support of the many Government of Rwanda agencies, USAID partners, private businesses, and non- government and civil society organizations that opened their doors to help make this work useful. We thank them all for our frank discussions and for their great enthusiasm, determination, energy, and commitment to protecting Rwanda’s environment. The team would like especially to express its appreciation to Andy Karas and Tim Muzira of the USAID Mission to Rwanda, who are important supporters of the analysis and findings. Due to time constraints, no original research was conducted. Although the team sought to maximize the use of available quantitative data, the assessment depended largely on secondary research. We would therefore like to thank the contributors to the many reports that facilitated this assessment. The conclusions of this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, implicit or explicit, of USAID or the Government of the United States. Jim Seyler Jean Marie Mugemana TABLE OF CONTENTS Acronyms i Executive Summary 1 SECTION I Background 21 A. USAID’s Program in Rwanda 21 B. Assessing Environmental Threats and Opportunities 21 SECTION II Purpose and Approach 23 SECTION III The Rwandan Context 25 A. Biophysical 25 B. Socioeconomic 27 C. The Political and Legal Context 28 SECTION IV Constitutional and Policy Framework for Environmental Management 31 A. Constitutional Framework 31 B. The National and Local Government Environmental Policy Framework 31 SECTION V Legislative Framework 39 A. Current National Framework 39 B. Other Pending Environmental Legislation 51 C. Local Government Legislative Framework 53 D. The Judicial Framework 55 E. International Conventions and Treaties 55 SECTION VI Institutional Framework for Environmental Management 57 A. Government Institutions 57 B. Universities and Research Organizations 59 C. Civil Society Organizations Supporting Environmental Management 61 D. Multilateral and Bilateral Organizations, International NGOs and the Private Sector 64 SECTION VII Environmental Status: Threats and Opportunities 71 A. Aquatic Resources 71 B. Lake Shore Resource 77 C. Savanna and Savanna Woodland Ecosystems 77 D. Forest Ecosystems 81 E. Agricultural Land Uses 88 F. Energy 94 G. Health-Related Environmental Management 103 H. Biodiversity 107 I. Rwanda’s Recent Conflict And Environmental Scarcity 118 SECTION VIII Priorities for Improving Environmental Management 119 A. Policy and Legal Reform 119 B. Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building 121 C. Economic Incentives 122 D. Regulation and Enforcement 122 E. Environmental Education and Awareness 123 F. Research and Information 123 CHEMONICS INTERNATIONAL INC. SECTION IX Recommendations for USAID/Rwanda 125 A. Potential Linkages Between Environment and the ISP 128 ANNEX A SECTIONS 117 AND 119 OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT A-1 ANNEX B SCOPE OF WORK B-6 ANNEX C PERSONS INTERVIEWED AND INSTITUTIONS VISITED C-12 ANNEX D BIBLIOGRAPHY D-18 ANNEX E USAID GUIDELINES OF FAMILY PLANNING FUNDS IN ENVIRONMENTALLY THREATENED REGIONS E-22 ANNEX F RWANDA 2002 IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES F-23 ANNEX G PHOTOS G-29 ACRONYMS ACNR Association for the Conservation of Nature in Rwanda ADAR Agribusiness Development Assistance in Rwanda ANP Akagera National Park ARECO Rwandan Association of Ecologists AREDI Rwandan Association for Integrated Development of the Environment AWF African Wildlife Federation BCDI Bank of Commerce and Development and Industry BED Berggorilla and Regenwald Direkthilfe CCC Civilian Conservation Corps CEPGL Economic Community of Countries of the Great Lakes CRS Catholic Relief Services CTO Cognizant technical officer CURPHAMETRA University Center for Pharmacy and Traditional Medicine DAP Development Assistance Projects DFGFE Diane Fossey Gorilla Foundation / Europe DFGFI Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund / International DFID Department for International Development DRC Democratic Republic of Congo DRSA Regional Agricultural Services Office EGAT Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade EIA Environmental impact assessment ETOA Environmental threats and opportunities assessment FAA Foreign Assistance Act FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FFI Fauna and Flora International FFW Rwandan franc FHI Family Health International FIDA International Agriculture Development Fund GDP Gross domestic profit GEF Global Environment Facility CHEMONICS INTERNATIONAL INC. GOR Government of Rwanda GTZ German Development Cooperation ICRAF International Center for Research in Agroforestry IEE International environmental examination IGCP International Gorilla Conservation Project INRS National Institute for Scientific Research IRST Institute for Scientific and Technological Research ISAR Rwanda Institute of Agronomic Sciences ISP Integrated strategic planning ITFC Institute for Tropical Forest Conservation ITN Insecticide-treated mosquito net IUCN International Union for Conservation and Nature KAP Knowledge, attitudes, and practices KIST Kigali Institute of Science, Technology, and Management MET Ministry of Environment and Tourism MGVP Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project MINAGRI Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry MINALOC Ministry of Local Administration, Information, and Social Affairs MINEDUC Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, and Scientific Research MINERENA Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources MINICOM Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism MININFRA Ministry of Infrastructures MINISANTE Ministry of Health MINITERE Ministry for Lands, Human Resettlement, and Environmental Protection MINITRAP Ministry of Public Works and Energy NFR Nyungwe Forest Reserve ORINFOR Rwandan Office of Information ORN Rwanda Bureau of Standards ORTPN Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks PEARL USAID Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages PNLP National Anti-malaria Program PNV Volcano National Park ii RWANDA ENVIRONMENT THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES ASSESSMENT CHEMONICS INTERNATIONAL INC. PRA Participatory rural assessment PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan PSI Population Services International REMA Rwanda Environment Management Authority RSSP World Bank Rural Sector Support Project SME Small and medium-sized enterprises SO Strategic objective SOPYWRA Pyrethrum Society of Rwanda STTA Short-term technical assistance UCB Belgian Chemical Union UNDP U. N. Development Program UNEP U. N. Environment Program UNR National University of Rwanda UPEGAZ Unit for Promotion and Exploitation of Methane Gas WCS Wildlife Conservation Society WFP World Food Program WHO World Health Organization WRI World Resources Institute WWF World Wildlife Fund WV World Vision RWANDA ENVIRONMENT THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES ASSESSMENT iii CHEMONICS INTERNATIONAL INC. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background USAID/Rwanda is currently writing a five-year Integrated Strategic Plan (ISP: 2004-2008) that will be aligned with the Government of Rwanda’s (GOR’s) Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan (PRSP), which has become the guiding strategy for all GOR development efforts. Aligning USAID/Rwanda’s program with it will signal support for the GOR’s poverty reduction strategy and will enhance synergy across sectors, and increase management efficiency. Because USAID/Rwanda recognizes that wise management of natural resources is essential to the success of any development program, it contracted with Chemonics International through the BIOFOR IQC to conduct an Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment (ETOA) for Rwanda. The ETOA will inform the Environmental Annex of the USAID/Rwanda Integrated Strategic Planning (ISP) process. This report is the product of that assessment. The formal environmental requirements of USAID operating unit strategic plans specified in ADS 201.3.8.2 Mandatory Technical Analysis for Developing Strategic Plans, Environmental Analysis, and are derived from the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and 22 CFR 216. (The relevant sections of the FAA can be found in Annex A of this report.) These dictate concern for: • Environmental Sustainability. Section 117 of the FAA “Environment and Natural Resources,” dictates that operating units will implement their programs with an aim toward maintaining (and restoring) natural resources upon which economic growth depends, and to consider the impact of their activities on the environment. • Tropical Forestry and Biological Diversity. Sections 118 “Tropical Forests” and 119 “Endangered Species” of the FAA codify the more specific U.S. interests in forests and biological diversity. These two provisions require that all country plans include: 1) an analysis of the actions necessary in that country to conserve biological diversity and tropical forests; and
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