as "Land of a thousand hills," Rwanda was once known. Who goes out today from the capital Kigali found, however, from the former green landscape does not have much. Entire hillsides have fallen, the red-brown earth is naked and bare. At the foot of the hills that roll muddy waters, saturated by the former Farmland. Erosion is one of the biggest environmental problems in one of the smallest nations in Africa.
Nine million people live in an area the size of Belgium, almost all small farmers. Burn cultivation, deforestation and over-exploitation leach out the country. And the population density is increasing rapidly. In twenty years, the pollsters predict that the population will have doubled.
hard to believe that the country should be an ecological model nation. Still, that Rwanda is the Global Footprint Network to certify annually that measures the "ecological footprint", ie the environmental consumption of all countries. Rwanda is in the 0.7 and well below that which would take the population to consumption environment for themselves. 1.0 is this ideal value, Germany is about 4.2 significantly higher, the Earth has a footprint of 2.23 - that is, more than two planets would be needed to offset the current destruction of nature. The fact that Rwanda has
as one of the poorest countries in the world have a low footprint is not surprising - that this small footprint but for years, even as the economy grows, but. What secret, Rwanda, the other countries do not?
determination, said Rwandan President Paul Kagame. "Africa's economic growth depends directly on agriculture, tourism, fisheries and the exploitation of natural resources. All this is only possible with effective environmental management "at a financial summit in Kigali accused Kagame of African leaders recently warned in brusque tone of voice on environmental issues ever to be in default:".. Our general problem in Africa is the implementation "
If the mouth takes so full, it can show the home successes: these in Rwanda include such programs for afforestation and terracing, which promotes the National Environmental Authority REMA across the country now after REMA information already eighty percent of the energy consumed in Rwanda wood taken from native. , renewable plantations.
is another key question: How can the energy needs of a country to be covered, which wants to join within ten years a third of the population to the power grid - currently there are only six percent - and builds further industrialization?
The answer is Eva Paul. The former employee of the Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) is one of the large foreign community that works in the Infrastructure Ministry in Kigali. These specialists will help the country in 2020 from the ecologically sustainable development to become the emerging market.
"Since November last year we pump the methane from Lake Kivu in a floating generator" Eva says Paul in her office in the government quarter. In the depths of Lake Kivu on the border of Congo are methane deposits that could be sufficient for more than 50 years. "At the moment, from Lake Kivu for two megawatts into the grid," said Paul. "We have just signed a contract with the American company signed Contour Global, the performance will increase by the end of next year to 100 megawatts." 100 megawatts - nearly twice as much as Rwanda's current total output. A consortium in which the Aga Khan is involved in negotiations in recent months about the license to produce another 100 megawatts of electricity. "A South African investor wants from the methane produced 1,000 barrels of fuel per day, and we have a study commissioned by the production of fertilizer from methane checks, "said Paul.
Africa's largest solar plant, only a half hour drive from Kigali away on a hill, is a prototype for stand-alone solutions." Solar energy is too expensive to them into the grid, "said Paul. In a separate program is currently schools and hospitals are equipped with solar cells. serve the same purpose the 15,000 biogas plants, which are currently installed with the support of GTZ mainly latrines by small farmers." The families Cooking with biogas instead of firewood, which saves resources, "said coordinator Gerard Hendriksen. poverty of resources, it seems, it - at least for Rwanda - inventive.
(Copyright with the daily newspaper, 30/05/2009)
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