¡HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!: RWANDA SAVES HISTORIC FOREST

THE RWANDA NATIONAL CONSERVATION PARK:
AFRICA’S MOST AMBITIOUS RESTORATION PROJECT EVER.

Gishwati Forest in northwest Rwanda has seen better days. Deforestation, soil erosion, resource exploitation and human conflict are some of the ravages the forest has endured for the past quarter century. But today the forest has a new lease on life, following the creation of the Rwanda National Conservation Park.

The park, a joint venture between the Rwandan government, Great Ape Trust of Iowa, and Earthpark, is one of Africa's most ambitious forest restoration projects ever. The park plans to restore the forest’s ecosystem by improving water quality and reducing soil erosion. The natural biodiversity of the area will be restored with special emphasis on chimpanzees as a keystone species. Humans, too, will have a role in the new venture – local Rwandans will generate income through ecotourism, investment opportunity, and local employment.

The future wasn’t always so bright for the beleaguered forest. The Gishwati was deforested in the 1980s by agricultural development, and in the 1990s during the resettlement of people following the civil war and genocide. Human encroachment, deforestation, grazing, and small-scale farming resulted in extensive soil erosion, flooding, landslides, and reduced water quality – as well as the isolation of a small population of chimpanzees. The Gishwati, the second-largest indigenous forest in Rwanda, once extended 100,000 hectares, but by the late 1980s it was reduced to one-fourth its original size. Further resettlement by returning refugees reduced the forest to only 600 hectares. As a result, Rwanda has been losing some 500 tons of soil annually per hectare.

Happily, this trend is being reversed. Reforestation and agroforestry methods, using techniques like radical terracing, progressive terracing, and live mulching are being implemented to regenerate lost forest cover on the steep mountainous slopes. At this rate, the Gishwati Forest has a good chance of regenerating within the next five to ten years.

A big shoutout to the government of Rwanda, Great Ape Trust, Earthpark, and everyone else who is working hard to return the Gishwati to it’s natural splendor.