At the COP14 Convention on Wetlands held in Geneva on Thursday, 10th November 2022, the City of Kigali was accredited for its commendable measures to protect the City’s wetlands and secure their benefits for People and Nature. Rwanda Permanent Mission in Geneva, represented by Minister Counsellor James Ngango received the Certificate of Accreditation on behalf of the City of Kigali. 

The City of Kigali was accredited by the Convention on Wetlands flagship Wetland city scheme and like other applications, it went through a rigorous review process led by an Independent Advisory Committee where it emerged among the 25 Cities that were approved by the Convention’s Standing Committee through the Decision SC59/2022-14. This decision brings the City of Kigali among the 43 accredited wetland Cities worldwide. This accreditation is granted for cities fulfilling the international criteria for community engagement in the conservation, restoration and management of wetlands, as well as activities on raising public awareness, and the promotion of environmental education. The City of Kigali is the first one to be accredited in Rwanda and we believe many more will follow.

It’s important to note that the accreditation validity is a six years term, pursuant to Resolution XII.10  of the 12^th  Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Wetlands held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 1-9 June 2015.

The recognition of the City of Kigali for ‘’Wetland City Accreditation’’ follows previous recognitions of Rwanda in environmental management such as the Green Globe Award 2010 for the restoration of Rugezi-Burera-Ruhondo wetland; Kigali recognition as the cleanest city in Africa (Forbes' list, 2007), among others.

Globally, an accredited city is recognized to have taken exceptional steps to safeguard its urban wetlands, serve as an example and inspire deliberate actions for other cities towards sustainable urbanisation. Wetlands in the City of Kigali contribute to livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and carbon sequestration. 

Rwanda has shown considerable efforts to not only safeguard urban wetlands for people and nature but also to actively contribute to environmental management as a whole.