Rwanda will host a multi-stakeholder workshop to review its livestock and climate policy environment and discuss opportunities to enhance livestock climate actions.

Recent severe floods and landslides have again shown climate change's disastrous impact on rural livelihoods in Rwanda. The country has recently published a revised Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy, reaffirming its target to become a carbon-neutral and climate-resilient economy by 2050, with an emission reduction target of 38 percent by 2030.

The livestock sector in Rwanda contributes to agriculture-led growth and the population's socio-economic well-being. In its nationally determined contributions (NDC), Rwanda has committed to addressing climate change in the livestock sector through specific mitigation and adaptation measures, such as improving livestock husbandry, breeding and manure management, expanding livestock insurance and promoting on-farm biogas and climate resilient livestock.  

About the workshop

FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and the Ministry of Environment of Rwanda, hosted the first national consultation workshop in December 2021 to raise awareness of the interrelation between livestock and climate change. The workshop recommended, that FAO conducts a policy analysis and the assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions baseline for the livestock sector to support Rwanda in addressing livestock climate actions. FAO is now organizing a second workshop with multiple stakeholders from different entities to discuss the findings of the analysis and formulate recommendations on “Livestock climate actions in Rwanda” to enhance the readiness of Rwanda for further climate finance in the livestock sector.

The workshop will take place in the Bugesera district, Rwanda, from 28 to 29 June 2023 under the Flexible Voluntary Contributions (FVC) subprogramme “Scaling-up climate actions to enhance nationally determined contributions (NDC) and climate and livestock”. The FVC subprogramme supports nine countries in enhancing mitigation and adaptation measures in the livestock sector and boosting climate resilience, food security and livelihoods. The activities in Rwanda will also support the Green Climate Fund Project Preparation Facility on Pathways to Dairy Net Zero: Promoting Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Livestock in East Africa by contributing to its baseline feasibility studies.