Rwanda on the path to sustainability

Twenty years after the genocide, Rwanda has emerged from suffering and hardships and is a country to which many global development insiders look with amazement. Its growth rate is slightly declining but still pretty much relevant (8% in 2012) and many other indicators mark its consistent advancements.  Much of Rwanda’s relative success has been attributed to the ability of attracting FDI while gradually giving up on aid flows. When compared with the spreading statement about Rwanda being the next big thing in Africa, a survey conducted by the World Bank among non-agricultural firms operating in the country has shown mixed results, highlighting some key areas (labor laws, skills availability, tax administration) to work on in order to improve its business climate.

However, as 2015 approaches and a new development agenda – firmly based on sustainability – is about to replace the MDGs, Rwanda shows that it is also making much progress in terms of valuing its natural capital, restoring its agro-forestry assets and moving the bulk of its energy supplies on renewable sources, as this video by the UN Poverty-Environment Initiative displays:

One thought on “Rwanda on the path to sustainability

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s