GASABO - A high-level meeting held at the Ministry of Local government (Minaloc), last week, requested the special working group on Gishwati forest to plan such that activities to solve the forest’s current predicament are wrapped up by December.

Minaloc’s subsequent communiqué notes that it had been convened solely to jointly examine ways of protecting the forest and give guarantees that locals are relocated, as well as ably resettled and provided for.

"The meeting requested the committee in charge of solving the problem of Gishwati to make a time table of how activities will be gradually conducted such that by the month of December 2009, the problem of Gishwati forest will have been done away with,” states one of the meeting’s 11 resolutions.

Also noted is that all plans showing how the forest ought to be used must have been finalized not later than September.

In attendance were ; local government, agriculture and natural resources ministers, the region’s governor, community leaders from areas surrounding the forest and representatives of families to be relocated.

Originally the second-largest indigenous forest in Rwanda – covering 100,000 hectares (equivalent to 30 sq kms), and extending to the districts of Ngororero, Rubavu, Rutsiro and Nyabihu in Western Province, Gishwati has been severely depleted.

Recently, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released satellite imagery indicating that nearly 99.4 percent of the forest has been completely wiped out.

Massive deforestation is one major cause of the last year’s destructive floods.

Government has since 2005 been trying to recover some parts of the forest, but admits the current situation is worrying and has embarked on extensive recovery plans.

Resettlement is part of Government’s plan in an effort to restore the devastated Gishwati forest. 

NASA notes that Gishwati’s destruction is largely a result of subsistence harvesting and cultivation in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and that, overall, only 600 hectares of Gishwati’s original 100,000 hectares remain.

According to the notes, the participants were pleased that the communities to be evicted now understand the need for protecting the forest.

The community heads were asked to carry on with sensibilising the locals to lend a hand – work with the authorities, in helping solve the problem for good.

Participants further agreed to meet on a monthly basis so as to follow up on the matter and, the next meeting will be held next month in the affected area – Gishwati forest.

Gishwati was last year selected as site for a historic conservation project – Rwanda’s first national conservation park to serve as international model for biodiversity restoration.

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