The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR) has launched a drive to protect the environment in and around four refugee camps in the country. The camps in question are Gihembe in Gicumbi District, Kiziba in Karongi District, Nyabiheke in Gatsibo District and Mugombwa in Gisagara District. Veneranda Ingabire, the In Charge of the two-year project, said it would comprise several activities. “It will involve practising forestry and agro forestry in and within the four refugee camps, education on environmental management, forest landscape restoration, constructing terraces and distributing 14,000 modern cooking stoves to curb air pollution and deforestation of forests, among others,” Ingabire said. Speaking to The New Times, recently, residents around Gihembe refugee camp raised concerns over a ravine in the area. Olive Uwihoreye, a resident of Muyange Village in Gihembe Cell and whose father-in-law perished from a landslide in the area in April, said the government should help refugees to control the water or move them to safer places. “My father-in-law was coming from Kageyo trading centre at around 6pm when he was swept away by the landslide,” she said, adding that if nothing was done more lives could be lost. The project, worth Rwf1.5 billion, will be funded by the National Environment and Climate Change Fund (FONERWA) which will raise 70 per cent of the budget, while the remaining 30 per cent will come from MIDIMAR. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
