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Reafforestation in progress

    NAIROBI

    Rwanda has reafforested at least 6,000 ha destroyed during the 1994 genocide, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported on Monday.

    Citing a statement issued by the agriculture ministry, the agency reported that at least 160 million seedlings had been planted since 1994.

    However, natural forests in Rwanda have declined from 643,000 ha to 221,200 ha in 41 years, according to the ministry, the main cause having been human activity.

    Forest cover in the Akagera National Park had declined from 241,000 ha to 90,000 ha; in the Volcano National Park from 34,000 ha to 12,000 ha; in Mukura from 3,000 ha to 1,200 ha; in Gishwati from 28,000 ha to 600 ha; and in Nyungwe from 114,000 ha to 92,400 ha since 1960, the ministry said. The resettlement of returnees in Akagera National Park had served to reduce the area of park to a third of its original size, and that further degradation was due to the cutting of trees for fuel, it added.

    RNA quoted the ministry as proposing the encouragement of agroforestry and the restoration of another 45,000 ha of the forest destroyed in 1994.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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