Isaac Ngango a resident of Muyira sector in Nyanza district Southern province says a few years back Kibirizi-Muyira Natural Forest was habitant to different species of wild life but only few of them are left and this solely due to human activity.
He says these activities include, charcoal burning, hunting, illegal logging, cultivation among others have led to destruction of animal’s habitats.
“The forest was there during the kingdom. We used to see different animals such as antelopes, gazelle, duiker, leopard, panther among many others but due to hunting the species are no longer there,” he said.
He said that currently the only visible animals in the forest include birds, monkeys, and rabbits among others.
“This forest is very important in our region because the little rain we get starts from this forest. We hope that when it will have been restored, we will benefit a lot. Surrounding community should play a big role,” he said.
According to district officials, over 210 farmers have encroached on the forest with most of them acquiring the land fraudulently, an investigation is reportedly being carried out to know how they ended up owning the land.
Kibirizi-Muyira Natural Forest is located in Amayaga Region that experiences dry spells due to deforestation.
“The illegal activities had reduced the forest by two-thirds,” said Aimable Nsengimana in charge of Environment in Nyanza District.
So far, he said a buffer zone has been established around the forest under Rwf31.9 billion Green
Philbert Nkurunziza, the Green Amayaga Project Coordinator said that degraded land and forests in Kamonyi, Ruhango, Nyanza and Gisagara districts will be restored within six years.
At least 555 hectares of degraded natural forests including 354 hectares of Kibirizi-Muyira natural forest will be rehabilitated.
“We have established a buffer zone around Kibirizi-Muyira Natural Forest. Next year we will plant 34 km on this buffer zone,” he said.
Statistics show that 263,000 hectares of degraded forests and 263,000 hectares of agricultural land to be restored and rehabilitated in total in the four districts and create 150,000 green jobs.
Over 60,000 households will be provided with improved and energy efficient cook stoves to reduce wood consumption by at least 25 percent and greenhouse gases emissions, and halt indoor respiratory diseases.
The natural forests to be restored represent 0.14 percent of Rwanda’s total national natural forests.
The interventions could avoid 4.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next five years and 13 million tons of indirect greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years.
Forests in Rwanda now occupy 724,695 hectares of the country’s total land area, of which 130,850 hectares is natural forests, 161,843 hectares is wooded savannah and 43,963 hectares is shrubs.
The country’s 111 natural forests include large rainforests such as Nyungwe, Volcanoes and Gishwati-Mukura national parks as well as smaller forests.
