RWANDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Aimery de Schoutheete and Penina Ngabire, Liedekerke Great Lakes
2. Impact of Environmental Protection and Community Relations on Mining Projects 2.1 Environmental Protection and Licensing of Mining Projects Competent Authority
2.2 Impact of Environmentally Protected Areas on Mining Environmentally Protected Areas in Rwanda Rwanda currently has five fully protected areas covering almost 2,500 km² or 9% of the coun - try’s total surface area: four national parks (Akag - era NP, Gishwati-Mukura NP, Nyungwe NP and Volcanoes NP) and the Rugezi-Burera-Ruhondo wetland complex. Additional measures have also been taken to protect other areas, including wetlands, rivers and various remnant forests. Impact of Project Location in Environmentally Protected Areas Environmentally protected areas have an impact on exploration, development and mining before and during the operations. Before the operations, the independent expert conducting the EIA will automatically categorise as “high impact areas” all projects, including exploration activities, located in: • ecologically sensitive areas (forests, wetlands, steep slopes and wildlife habitats); • areas legally protected by national or interna - tional law (trans-boundary ecosystems, inter - national riverbanks and lake shores, national parks, and archaeological sites); and • socio-culturally sensitive areas (densely pop - ulated areas, national monuments, memorial sites, and burial grounds/cemeteries). This may lead the authorities to reject the pro - ject, or to impose stricter environmental require - ments on the operator. The project is also likely to be subject to closer scrutiny during its imple - mentation.
The Rwanda Environment Management Author - ity (REMA) is the national authority in charge of national environmental protection, conservation, promotion and overall management, including advising the government on all matters pertinent to the environment and climate change. Mandatory Requirements Before commencing any mining operations, the holder of an exploration licence, a mining licence or a processing licence must: • conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) with the help of an independent expert and submit the EIA to the RDB for approval; and • prepare a rehabilitation plan identifying the planned rehabilitation activities and the related budget. In addition, the holder of a mining licence must deposit in the bank account of the National Fund for Environment (NFE) an environment rehabilita - tion guarantee (ERG), the amount of which must be equal to the budget of the liabilities of the mining or quarry LH under the EIA. This is to ensure that the LH will rehabilitate the licensed area in respect of any degradations resulting from mining or quarry operations. Liability The LH remains liable for environmental protec - tion until the mining site is closed and a final rehabilitation certificate has been issued by the REMA.
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