Cultivating hillsides for crops leads to increased soil erosion, landslides and flooding.

Devastating losses underscore importance of forest restoration by Gishwati Area Conservation Program and Rwandan government

Des Moines, Iowa, USA – October 14, 2009 – Weather experts have attributed the recent destruction of homes and crops in Rwanda to deforestation of the Gishwati Forest.  In a report from The New Times, meteorologists from nine African nations meeting at National University of Rwanda blamed deforestation for devastation resulting from last week’s heavy rains that struck Rubavu district.  53 houses and 257 hectares (640 acres) of crops were destroyed.

“This area is not supposed to have floods, but because of the deforestation of the natural reserve of Gishwati, which is near the upstream of Rubavu town, and the intensive agriculture due to human pressure, we have periodic floods,” Adrienne Mukashema, a researcher at NUR’s Centre for Geographic Information Systems told The New Times.

Rwanda is Africa's most densely populated country. The lack of land has resulted in farming on steep, and vulnerable, hillsides.

The deforestation of the Gishwati Forest Reserve goes back more than 50 years, in part because of ill-advised, large-scale cattle ranching operations, resettlement of refugees after the genocide, inefficient small-plot farming, free-grazing of cattle, and plantations of non-native trees.  As a result, the area is plagued with catastrophic flooding, landslides, decreased soil fertility, reduced water quality and heavy river siltation.

“This round of flooding shows us again why preservation of forests is critical.  The losses neutralize effects to address problems of economic development, health and education,”  said Dr. Benjamin Beck, director of conservation at Great Ape Trust.  “They perpetuate poverty and dependence on charities. Forest restoration is not just a luxury of the wealthy but a necessity to those living close to the earth.”

Since late 2007, Great Ape Trust, Earthpark and the Republic of Rwanda have co-sponsored and managed the Gishwati Area Conservation Program. Considered by some to be a lost cause just several years ago, the Gishwati Forest and the small population of chimpanzees who call it home are making a comeback and teaching a valuable conservation lesson along the way.

“2009 has been an astonishing year for this program,” said Dr. Beck.  “We’ve seen the forest expand, the chimpanzee population increase and a substantial decline in illegal activities in the area. Our neighbors in Gishwati have become our partners.”

Cattle are allowed to to graze on this pasture adjacent to Gishwati National Conservation Park in Rwanda's Western Province.

More specifically:

• The Gishwati National Conservation Park has increased 38 percent from 886 hectares (2,215 acres) to 1222 hectares (3,055 acres).  Approximately 400 hectares (1,000 acres) will be added by early 2010.
• With a birth in early 2009, the chimpanzee population has grown 8 percent from 13 to 14 individuals.
• Illegal human activities in and around Gishwati have been reduced an impressive 75 percent this year, from 32 cases in February to just eight in August.
• The Gishwati Area Conservation Program established a research field station in the village of Kinihira at the edge of the Park and provides full-time employment to 19 Rwandans.
• GACP has established robust working relationships with 13 area schools and has created eco-clubs for primary and secondary students. School supplies have also been provided.
• Ten cooperatives have been created in the Gishwati area and GACP has assisted with business plans and the registration requirement for seeds and fertilizer.

In 2007, Gishwati had dwindled to fewer than 900 hectares (2,250 acres) of natural forest with only 13 chimpanzees.  Neither the forest nor the chimpanzee population was sustainable without immediate protection.  That changed in September 2007 when H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Great Ape Trust Founder and Chair Ted Townsend pledged at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City to found a “national conservation park” to benefit climate, biodiversity and the welfare of the Rwandan people.  Within two months, the Gishwati Reserve, long recognized as “beyond hope” by conservation groups, was chosen as the site of the future park. The Gishwati Area Conservation Program was born.

 “Since that commitment, the progress of this project is inspirational and instructive, because solutions that work in the desperate situation at Gishwati are likely to be effective for many endangered populations of great apes in the future,” said Dr. Beck.  “Gishwati is a test bed for new conservation approaches, and has become a “Forest of Hope” rather than being the place “beyond hope” that it was just two short years ago.”