Business Activities with Positive Effects on the Environment – Effect of Business Activities on the Environment (Senior 3 Entrepreneurship) | Ganzaa

Effect of Business Activities on the Environment

Lessons

Senior 3 · Entrepreneurship

Effect of Business Activities on the Environment

4 lessons

Lesson 2 of 4

Business Activities with Positive Effects on the Environment

23 min

When tourism pays for conservation

Visitors pay to see gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, chimpanzees in Nyungwe and lions in Akagera. The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) reports that Rwanda reinvests 10% of the tourism revenue earned by its national parks in the communities around them. Over 20 years, more than Frw 23 billion has funded nearly 1,300 projects, such as schools, health centres and water supplies.

This changes how neighbours see a park. If a forest brings a classroom and clean water to the village, people have a reason to protect it, not to cut it down. A business activity, tourism, is protecting the environment. This lesson looks at business activities that have positive effects on the environment.

Definition

Positive environmental effect: a change caused by an activity that protects, restores or improves the environment, such as cleaner water, more trees or less waste.

Conservation: the careful protection and wise use of natural resources so that they last.

Eco-tourism: tourism to natural areas that conserves the environment and benefits local people.

Green business: a business whose products or methods reduce harm to the environment, such as a solar company or a recycling enterprise.

Business activities that help the environment

Business activity	How it helps the environment	Example
Tree nurseries, woodlots and agroforestry	trees hold soil, store carbon, provide shade and timber, and reduce cutting of natural forest	a nursery selling seedlings to farmers and schools
Waste collection and recycling	keeps waste out of drains, rivers and fields; turns waste into raw materials	plastic waste made into poles or paving blocks; scrap metal collected for smelting
Composting and organic manure	turns food and market waste into fertiliser, reducing chemical use and rubbish	compost made from market waste and sold to farmers
Renewable energy	reduces burning of firewood, charcoal and fuel, and the smoke and gases they release	selling solar lamps and home systems; building biogas digesters
Efficient cookstoves and clean fuels	less wood or charcoal burnt for the same cooking, less indoor smoke	making improved stoves; selling briquettes from farm waste
Eco-tourism	gives value to forests, parks and wildlife; fees fund protection and local projects	park visits, guided nature walks, community lodges
Alternatives to single-use plastic	replace plastic bags and items that pollute land and water	paper bags, woven baskets, cloth bags
Soil and water conservation services	reduce erosion and floods; store rainwater	building terraces; installing rainwater tanks

Businesses can also help through how they work: treating their wastewater, using less water and energy, and joining community clean-ups such as umuganda, Rwanda’s monthly community work.

Tip

Exam technique. For “Explain how business activity X benefits the environment”, link the activity to a specific part of the environment: “A tree nursery helps soil because farmers plant its seedlings on slopes, and the roots hold the soil when it rains.” “It is good for nature” earns nothing.

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Worked example 1: what revenue sharing means

(a) RDB reports more than Frw 23 billion reinvested in nearly 1,300 projects. About how much is that per project? (b) If a park earned US$10 million in a year, how much would 10% give to community projects?

(a) $\frac{23{,}000{,}000{,}000}{1{,}300} \approx 17{,}700{,}000$ So each project received, on average, a little more than Frw 17.7 million, because more than Frw 23 billion was shared among fewer than 1,300 projects.

(b) $\frac{10}{100} \times 10{,}000{,}000 = 1{,}000{,}000$ , so US$1 million. The park figure in (b) is illustrative.

Worked example

Worked example 2: a composting enterprise (illustrative figures)

A youth cooperative collects 1.5 tonnes of food and vegetable waste a week from a market. Suppose that 40% of the waste’s weight ends up as compost, sold in 50 kg bags at Frw 5,000 a bag. Find the cooperative’s monthly sales from compost (4 weeks).

Waste a month: $1.5 \times 4 = 6$ tonnes $= 6,000$ kg.

Compost: $\frac{40}{100} \times 6{,}000 = 2{,}400$ kg.

Bags: $\frac{2{,}400}{50} = 48$ bags. Sales: $48 \times 5{,}000 = 240{,}000$ , so Frw 240,000 a month.

Interpret. The market has 6 tonnes less rubbish each month, farmers get organic fertiliser, and the cooperative earns an income. A positive effect on the environment can also be a profitable business.

Warning

Common mistakes. (1) Believing every “green” claim: some businesses advertise themselves as green without changing what they do, which is called greenwashing; ask for evidence. (2) Forgetting side effects: even eco-tourism produces waste and traffic, so it must be managed. (3) Thinking that only large companies can help: a small stove maker or a compost group can have a real positive effect.

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Practice

Define conservation, eco-tourism and green business.
Name five business activities that have positive effects on the environment.
Explain how a solar-lamp business helps the environment.
Explain how sharing park revenue with neighbouring communities helps to protect the parks.
A tree nursery sells 3,000 seedlings a month at Frw 150 each. If 80% of them survive after planting, how many trees is that each month, and what are the nursery’s monthly sales?
Suggest a business that could be started in your area to reduce one environmental problem, and explain how it would earn money.
“Protecting the environment always costs a business money.” Evaluate this statement, using two examples from this lesson.

Show answersHide answers

Conservation: careful protection and wise use of natural resources so that they last. Eco-tourism: tourism to natural areas that conserves the environment and benefits local people. Green business: a business whose products or methods reduce harm to the environment.
Any five: tree nurseries and agroforestry; waste collection and recycling; composting; renewable energy; efficient stoves and clean fuels; eco-tourism; alternatives to plastic; soil and water conservation services.
Solar lamps replace kerosene lamps and candles, so less fuel is burnt, there is less smoke indoors and fewer greenhouse gases; the sun’s energy is renewable.
Communities gain schools, health centres and water from the park’s income, so they value the park and are less likely to cut trees, hunt or farm inside it; they may even help guard it.
Surviving trees: $\frac{80}{100} \times 3{,}000 = 2{,}400$ . Sales: $3{,}000 \times 150 = 450{,}000$ , so Frw 450,000 a month.
Answers vary, for example: briquettes from sawdust sold to restaurants; a plastic-collection service paid by households.
Not always. Some protection costs money (treating wastewater), but some earns money: the compost cooperative sells fertiliser made from waste, and eco-tourism earns fees because nature is protected. Saving energy and water also cuts costs. Protection can be a cost, a saving or a source of income.

Sources and credits

Revenue sharing: Rwanda breaks ground on Smart Green Village and shares tourism revenues with communities around national parks, Rwanda Development Board (RDB), 27 August 2026.
Photo: Gutera igiti, Rogerirakoze, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Written by Ganzaa: the tables, the worked examples and the practice items. The composting cooperative, the park figure in Worked example 1(b) and the nursery are illustrative (2026).

1When tourism pays for conservation

2Business activities that help the environment

When tourism pays for conservation

Business activities that help the environment