ARE CLIMATE RESILIENT GREEN CITIES THE WAY OF THE FUTURE?

This Saturday 9th September at 10pm, listeners have a second chance to hear Producer Sue Cahill's exploration of responses to climate change.

Are low carbon solutions and national resource management the key to poverty reduction and environmental sustainability in Africa?

In ‘Rwanda’s Green Leap Forward’ Susan Cahill travels to Kigali the capital of Rwanda to see how Rwanda is gearing up to become a low carbon nation.  This unique climate change documentary highlights how transitioning to a renewable economy will build a sustainable peace for Rwanda.

In ‘Rwanda’s Green Leap Forward’  Susan assesses the impact of Rwanda’s ‘Green Growth and Climate Resilience National Strategy for Climate Change and Low Carbon Development’, its innovative ‘Green Cities’ initiative and plastic bag ban and asks will Rwanda become the world’s first plastic free nation?

Susan meets with Sam Dargan, the Chief Executive Officer of Great Lakes Energy and asks what role will renewable energy play in the development of a low carbon Rwanda? This ground breaking environmental documentary highlights the environmental implications of peat to power generation and travels to the Kivuwatt power in Kibuye in Rwanda’s Western Province to see how the government of Rwanda has turned a toxic menace (methane trapped under Lake Kivu) into a valuable source of electricity.  

Susan travels to Rwanda’s South Western Province and asks: what is the impact of climate change on the availability of water for human and agricultural consumption? Susan highlights how rainwater harvesting techniques, plastic and bamboo water tanks and climate mapping is mitigating the affects of global warming and providing a life line for climate vulnerable communities.

Susan meets with city planners, environmental activists, conservationists, water experts and farmers and teases out whether Rwanda will become the first country in the African Great Lakes Region to achieve middle income status by 2020?

BROADCAST DETAILS: ‘Rwanda’s Green Leap Forward’ was originally broadcast on the Documentary on Newstalk slot on Saturday February 11th.

PODCAST: Podcast available after the broadcast at www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk

CREDITS: ‘Rwanda’s Green Leap Forward’ is produced and presented by Susan Cahill with the support of the Simon Cumbers Media Fund  http://www.simoncumbersmediafund.ie. For further information please contact Susan Cahill at susan@newstalk.ie

Key Documentary Interviews

1. Dr Michel Masozera, Wildlife Conservation Society, Kigali, Rwanda.
2. Mr Dony Mazingaizo, Country Director, TROCAIRE, Kigali, Rwanda.
3. Dr Jean Chrysostome Sehene, Director,
   RECOR - RwandaEnvironmental Conservation Organization.
4. Dr Joseph Nziza, Director, Never Again Rwanda (NAR).
5. Ms Aloysie Mukamana, Water Management Expert, Medical Missionaries of Mary, Kirambi, Rwanda South Western Province.
6. Mr Jarmo Gummerus, Country Manager for KIVUWATT Power Station in Kibuye (which is run by global energy leader Contour Global)
7. Mr Sam Dargan, Chief Executive Officer, Great Lakes Energy.