A delegation from Rwanda has shared the country’s experience in green city development at the Global Green Growth Week in Jeju, South Korea.
The country focus session was opened by Rwanda’s Ambassador to South Korea, Emma Isumbingabo, who spoke about Rwanda’s commitment to sustainable urbanization. The session also included a detailed presentation from Light Earth Designs Founding Partner Tim Hall, who spoke about Rwanda’s Green City Pilot, which will inform the development of six green secondary cities across the country. The Global Green Growth Week is organised by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a partner of Rwanda’s Green Fund.
“Rwanda’s urban population is growing at 4.5% per annum, more than double the global average. This alone is enough to put sustainable urban development at the top of the government’s agenda. When you factor in climate change and the desire for rapid socio-economic transformation, building green cities is no longer a nice add-on, but an essential part of improving the lives of our citizens and ensuring our development can be sustained for generations to come,” said Ambassador Isumbingabo.
The Coordinator of Rwanda’s Green Fund, Alex Mulisa, was a panelist at the session and spoke about the role of the fund in the country’s sustainable development and green cities programme, highlighting the need for increased investment from both the private sector and bilateral partners.
“Green growth is a complex challenge, not just in Africa, but around the world. Rwanda is demonstrating that green growth is indeed possible and the fund is translating the country’s commitment into tangible results on the ground,” he said.
The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is supporting the Government of Rwanda to implement the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, which has set ambitious goals to achieve green economic growth. GGGI is also providing technical advisory support to Rwanda’s Green Fund to help make the country’s secondary cities greener and more inclusive. This includes the development of a green city pilot that builds on existing best practices to accelerate green urban development and economic growth in the country’s commercial hubs and secondary cities.
Speaking about the green city pilot, Tim Hall from Light Earth Designs said that there were immense opportunities in sustainable urbanisation.
“Green city development in Rwanda can be a generator for sustainable economic growth and job creation. Many of the solutions for low carbon development and construction are common sense, including simple efficiency. We need to find the best quality, local materials with low carbon costs for our green city development.”
The panelists of the country focus session included Rwanda’s Ambassador to Korea, Emma Isumbingabo, Coordinator of Rwanda’s Green Fund, Alex Mulisa, GGGI Country Representative, Innocent Kabenga, Light Earth Design’s Tim Hall and GGGI Head of Programmes, Chanho Park. The session was moderated by Claude Ganza from the Embassy of Rwanda in Korea. The session also included a video on Sustainable Resilient Green Cities in Rwanda, which can be viewed below.
