Rwanda Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment (ETOA)
BACKGROUND
This report provides a background on the state of the environment in Rwanda. The authorrs write this report to fulfil a legal requirement of the US, Foreign Assistance Act (FAA), which requires that a Tropical Forests and Biodiversity Analysis be conducted in conjunction with the development of new foreign assistance strategies and programs. The report is also intended to identify opportunities to better integrate USAID's portfolio across development sectors by suggesting linkages with economic growth, agriculture, democracy and governance, health, and education activities.
Goals & Methods
A team gathered information through, review of relevant documents and web-based information; interviews and meetings with representatives of key stakeholder groups; and field site visits. The authors talked to more than 50 stakeholders, including staff of the USAID/Rwanda Mission and USAID/Washington; relevant national government agencies; international and national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); international donors; residents of natural resource-dependent communities; and private sector representatives.
CONCLUSIONs & TAKEAWAYS
The report finds that the most important direct biophysical threat to Rwanda’s biodiversity and environment is the conversion, loss, degradation, and fragmentation of natural ecosystems, especially mountain forests and wetlands. The authors recommend that USAID/Rwanda needs to integrate environment, biodiversity, and climate change into the mission Development Objectives (DOs). Specifically, theres is need to intergrate biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation as cross-cutting, multisectoral issues.
Reference:
ECODIT LLC. (2014). Rwanda Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment (ETOA). USAID Task Order No. AID-696-TO-14-00002. Available at: http://www.usaidgems.org/Documents/FAA%26Regs/FAA118119/RwandaETOA2014.pdf [Accessed 12 Dec 2016].
Affiliation:
- Unites States Agency for International Development