Community-led research in the Huye and Gisagara districts of Rwanda is evaluating the effectiveness of country-wide climate strategies and policies. The findings from this work are being used by smallholder communities in their development of agroforestry and natural regeneration and in their approaches to policy engagement for locally-led action to reverse environmental degradation.
Environmental degradation in Rwanda's Southern Province
Rwanda's southern districts of Huye and Gisagara are badly affected by erosion, deforestation and environmental degradation, exacerbated by increasing population density, unsustainable farming practices, and heavy demand for fuelwood. Most of the population are smallholder farmers who depend heavily on the environment for their livelihoods. Women farmers are disproportionately impacted by deforestation, as reduced forest resources increase labour for gathering firewood, while unequal power relations limit their decision-making powers in households and communities. Although local people understand the links between deforestation and climate shocks, they continue to rely on firewood as their main energy source.
Overall, forests are badly managed, and there is poor coordination between local communities and district-level stakeholders, which is hampering efforts to prevent further environmental degradation.
Building capacity in environmental restoration and improving coordination
Tearfund initiated this project with comprehensive research into institutional arrangements for environmental management, to identify gaps in communication and participation. This research fed into work to build local capacity in environmental restoration and improve community engagement and participation in environmental decision-making and policy implementation.
To build local capacity, the project is working with community members to strengthen systems for implementing environmental policies and create space for collaboration between local communities and key stakeholders at the district and national levels.
The project is improving natural habitats by planting 240,000 tree seedlings over 50 hectares of private and communal land and identifying reforestation priority areas with community leaders.
The project is training 4000 smallholder farmers in climate-smart agriculture and farmer-managed natural regeneration to increase planting of indigenous trees and shrubs, improve habitats, and support livelihoods. More women than men work in subsistence agriculture and the project is delivering equal capacity building opportunities for women and other vulnerable groups.
Community representatives are being trained as environmental restoration planners and connected to district and national-level policymakers to facilitate continued environmental protection and restoration.
Trained community facilitators will be able to conduct refresher training and support implementation of good practices after the project lifetime.