Before 2018 significant soil erosion was affecting farmers in the Fumbwe Sector of Rwamagana District due to deforested landscapes.
According to Augustin Bizimana, a resident in the area the soil erosion was also affecting Lake Muhazi which had an impact on the fishing community.
With degraded forests, he said, no farmer was generating revenues from trees besides losses incurred by soil erosion.
However, after consolidating land and restoring the degraded forests, the farmers are set to mint millions from the restoration initiative as Rwanda committed to restore two million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030.
Bizimana the cooperative president said 78 members consolidated their land to restore 28 hectares.
The restoration drive is part of The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of these deforested and degraded landscapes in Africa and Bonn Challenge- a global goal to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes into restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.
Bizimana, the resident who is also the president of Tubungabunge Amashyamba Cooperative” that protects forests in Fumbwe sector of Rwamagana District said that the cooperative with 78 members consolidated their land to restore 28 hectares of degraded forests under government support.
"All these hectares had been degraded. As a result they would no longer generate any revenue for us. Today the forest landscape has been restored with 78,000 trees from which we hope to start generating revenues with a minimum of over Rwf3,000 per tree in the coming two years when they are at mature stage,” he said.
The forest is expected to generate over Rwf500 million for the cooperative once harvested.
"I personally expect to harvest trees worth Rwf4 million yet previously I would not even get school fees for my children because my forest was degraded. Once harvested, each member of the cooperative will contribute 10 percent of the revenues for the cooperative development.” he said.
45 per cent of deforested lands restored
The cooperative’s hectares are part of two million hectares of degraded land that Rwanda committed to restore.
Jean-Pierre Mugabo, the Director-General of Rwanda Forestry Authority said that the two million of degraded land equals 75 percent of the total land of the country.
"Forest landscape restoration is not only planting trees, it is not only putting in place measures to control soil erosion, but also it is economic transformation,” he said.
"We have currently 900,000 hectares being restored. That means 45 percent of the two million hectares of degraded forests and landscapes and we remain with 55 percent. We managed to secure different funds such as Green Climate Fund (GCF) because in the northern part of the country we secured $32 million. We also have around $7 million from Global Environment Facility (GEF), Germany government, World Bank and others,” he said.
Among the challenges, he added; include the need for more funding to achieve the restoration targets.
Engaging private sector
Mugabo said that the government has engaged private investors to work with the government for state forests to be managed by the private sector.
"We are aiming to have at least 80 percent of the public forests being managed by private companies by 2024. At this time we have 36 percent being managed by private companies. By the end of the year the target is expected to reach 45 percent,” he said.
He said that although every year there are new recorded cases of degraded forests and landscapes the annual restoration activities should be positive and outweigh those degraded.
Forests are among the major revenue generators in the country, fetching an annual income of Rwf67 billion, according to official figures.
Through privatisation of state-owned forests, the government hopes to make Rwf200 billion in annual revenues according to studies.
The source of land and forests degradation
Jean D’arc Mujawamariya, The Minister of Environment, said that between 70 to 80 per cent of forest degradation has been caused by cropland expansion.
To reverse the threat and cope with climate change, she said that holistic approaches are needed.
"In Rwanda our population is growing at a very fast rate of 2.9 percent per year making the country one of the most densely populated in the world with about 477 people per square kilometre of land. Our total 12 million populations live on 2.3 million hectares of land yet almost 98 percent of cultivated land depends on rain water hence exposing farmers to significant climate related risks,” she said.
She said that over 40,000 tonnes of soil are lost each year flowing directly into rivers and streams that are not adequately protected.
Due to climate change caused by deforested lands and other environmental degradation Rwanda loses over Rwf200bn in economy.
$652 million invested in restoration programmes
Minister Mujawamriya said that at least $652 million has been invested in forest landscape restoration programmes.
This, she said, has created 180,000 green jobs between 2014 and 2020.
" As a result Forest cover is 724,662 hectares of the country land which means 34 percent of the country lands of which 53 percent are plantations, 21 percent are wooded savannahs, 19 percent natural mountain rain forests and 6.2 percent are shrubs,” she said.
Rwanda’s climate fund has been mobilising funds for environment projects, she added.
How is Africa fairing?
While Africa has forests that offer a wide range of benefits including food and fresh water as well as habitat for wildlife, Mujawamariya said , however , that 65 per cent of productive land in Africa is degraded while desertification affects 45 percent of the continent’s lands.
"Every year nearly three million hectares of Africa’s forests are lost and this also results in soil erosion and nutrients depletion and significant reduction of agricultural productivity. As a result Africa spends more than $35 billion on food imports annually,” he said, adding rural smallholder farmers are the most affected by degraded lands.