RWANDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Aimery de Schoutheete and Penina Ngabire, Liedekerke Great Lakes
2.9 Good and Bad Examples of Community Relations/Consultation Impacting Mining Projects All LHs must comply with health and safety standards and must carry out their operations diligently and in line with the business plan submitted to the RMB. They must also create income-generating activities for the surrounding communities, carry out reforestation and implement their social activities. LHs that fail to meet these obligations risk having their ML revoked by the RMB. 3. Climate Change, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development in Mining 3.1 Climate Change Effects Rwanda has recently revamped its environmental legal framework to better tackle climate change and protect the environment. It has also launched a series of initiatives as part of its “Vision 2050” and its aspira - tion to be a green, carbon-neutral and climate-resilient country by 2050. These recent developments should contribute to more responsible development of the mining industry, which is set to grow rapidly in the coming years. Revamped Environmental Legal Framework Rwanda’s revamped environmental legal framework can be summarised as follows. • Rwanda is party to various international instru - ments tackling climate change, including the 1992 United National Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and the 2015 Paris Agreement. • The Rwandan Constitution guarantees the right to a clean environment and imposes (mainly) on the State the responsibility for protecting the environ - ment. • Rwandan Law No 48/2018 of 13 August 2018 on the environment (the “Environment Law”) deter - mines the modalities for protecting, conserving, and promoting the environment. It sets out the fundamental principles governing environmental
conservation, including the principle of sustainabil - ity and the “polluter pays” principle. • The Environment Law has since been supplement - ed by various presidential orders, ministerial orders and regulations. • The REMA is the national authority tasked with co- ordinating, regulating and enforcing the protection, conservation and management of the environment in Rwanda. Against this background, the Environment Law and the supplemental regulations impose general and spe - cific obligations to tackle climate change and protect the environment. On the one hand, all administrative entities are required to preserve the environment and prevent the adverse effects of climate change, and all socio-economic sectors (including the mining sec - tor) must factor the environment and climate change into the development and implementation of their policies, strategies, plans and programmes. On the other hand, prior to the issuance of an ML or a QL, all work related to mining must undergo a full EIA (which closely examines the impact of the mining project on the environment) and be backed by a rehabilitation plan of the future licensed area. After the issuance of the licence, all work related to mining must also undergo an environmental audit (EA) conducted by an independent expert. Rwanda’s Vision 2050 and REMA’s Strategic Plan for 2022–2026 Rwanda’s Vision 2050 articulates the long-term strate - gic direction of the country, which is to make Rwanda an upper-middle-income country by 2035 and a high- income country by 2050. In elaborating this long-term programme, the government took into consideration the global and regional development agendas, includ - ing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identi - fied by the United Nations, and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Rwanda’s goal is therefore for the country’s growth and development to follow a sustain - able path, in terms of use and management of natural resources, while building resilience to cope with the impact of climate change. Against this background, the REMA’s Strategic Plan for 2022–2026 identifies key measures for protect - ing the environment and ensuring the sustainable
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