Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya – UNGA Event 2020

Source: Climate Vulnerable Forum

H.E. Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment of Rwanda

Climate Vulnerable Forum Leaders Event

October 7, 2020

Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Ladies and gentlemen.

It is a pleasure to be with you today for the Leaders Climate Vulnerable Forum.

On behalf of his Excellency Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, I would like to extend my appreciation to the government of Bangladesh through Your Excellency, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and to the Global Center on Adaptation; and to the Secretariat of the CVF, respectively, for chairing and co-hosting this event, which is an important platform to recall the urgency to strengthen climate action and adaptation efforts through revised NDCs by December, 2020 – as recommended by the COP23 to the UNFCCC and reaffirmed by COPs 24 and 25, respectively held in Katowice, Poland and in Madrid, Spain.

To strengthen climate action is therefore essential to achieving the Paris Agreement goal to limit global warming to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius, and all countries, spearheaded by largest emitters, should step up and enhance their NDCs.

For most vulnerable countries, mainly least developed ones and small island developing states, climate change adaptation must also lay at the heart of their National Planning agenda and the response to the climate crisis.

This is especially evident in Rwanda, as from January to October 2020, climate-related hazards have claimed more than 200 lives and destroyed houses, growth and infrastructure. These disasters have had significant economic losses to the community and the country at large, and have kept climate change front and center of the policy agenda in Rwanda.

Rwanda is highly committed to join with the global community to combat climate change and achieve aspirations of the Paris Agreement. To walk the talk amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Rwanda affirmed its commitment to climate action by its recent updated NDC submitted to the UNFCCC in May, 2020.

In our updated NDC, Rwanda has set the ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 38% compared to Business As Usual (BAU) by 2030, and to commit spending heavily on mitigation and adaptation.

Our updated NDC is informed by the understanding that climate change is a global challenge that is already impacting vulnerable countries like Rwanda, and we have no time to lose, but to act urgently and collectively, and in a coordinated manner, with no one behind. Otherwise, the world will have to bear the consequences for years.

I invite all countries, especially developed ones with high emissions, to take significant steps to deliver the transformative action that the climate crisis requires. Let us all, together as one, recover back better – because none of us is resilient unless all of us are resilient.

I thank you Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, I thank you all for your kind attention.

Statement – Rwanda