2.1.1.2. Rwandan environmental problems.
The imbalance between the population and natural resources
(land, water, flora, fauna and other nonrenewable resources) is the major
environmental concern. In Rwanda, there is also much reflection of massive
degradation through deforestation, reduction of biodiversity, the cultivation
of marginal areas, the erosion and unplanted farming of marches.
The environmental degradation has high human as well as
economic impact. The current energy crisis exacerbated by environmental
degradation has defected not only the rate of economic growth but has also
impacted on the livelihoods of the people.
One example of environmental degradation is the declining
water levels in lakes which provide the majority of electricity in the country.
Since the beginning of 2000, the water levels of two lakes (Burera and Ruhondo)
that supply Ntaruka and Mukura hydropower stations have been declining.
BARRACLOUGH (1997:12)
The environmental degradation processes also are frequently
associated with local level proximate causes such as careless natural resource
management, inappropriate technologies, poverty, demographic changes, local
power structures social conflicts and natural processes or calamities.
BARRACLOUGH (1997:13)
Given to the fragility of Rwandan agricultural sector, it?s
clear that the success of Rwandan economic development over the medium to
long-term will be intimately linked to the fate of its natural environment.
Rwandan natural environment is being threatened by population growth and it is
likely that these problems will be exacerbated in the future by climate change,
inadequate water management and recurrent draught are already having an impact
on the country?s energy production and are undermining the competitiveness of
Rwandan fledgling industry. It is important to note that draught was cited as a
major cause of food insecurity in the 2006 and vulnerability assessment.
Finally, urbanization is likely to generate a new set of environmental needs,
such as waste and waste water management. To respond to these challenges,
Rwanda will need to divide an ambiguous and coherent response that covers all
sectors of the economy and offer an integrated strategy to deal with the
management of the environmental and climatic risk, as well as with predictable
consequences of population growth and soil degradation. National Human
Development Report (2007:15)
This imbalance between the population and the natural resource
has resulted in a constantly increasing impoverishment of the population.
According to the environment policy in 1993, the proportion of households
living below the poverty threshold was 53%. It greatly increased after the 1994
war and Genocide. Surveys carried out in 2001 show that at the national level,
60% of households live under the poverty threshold.
National space is used in an inefficient and non-sustainable
manner. Rural areas are still dominated by scattered settlements: agricultural
activities and infrastructure are disseminated without any pre-established
basic principles of land use. Unsuitable space are wooded, slopes and fragile
wetlands are used very poorly due to lack of a master plan of land use
management and an explicit land policy and low governing the land tenure system
and human settlements. The consequence of this kind of management is soil
degradation, reduction of water resources, devastating floods. MINITERE
(2003:8)
MINITERE (2003:12) states that the exploitation mines and
quarries out in the different parts of the country affects the soils of the
hills and marches. It contributes to increased erosion in hills where quarries
left open promote erosion. Forests and natural reserves in Rwanda are subjected
to high human pressure and rate of deforestation is very high.
This massive deforestation combined with the abandonment and
destruction of erosion control systems, particularly following the displacement
of the population caused by the 1994 War and Genocide, greatly contribute to
the degradation of the bare land on steep slopes and hills. There is also water
pollution in the country, which is mainly caused by domestic waste,
agro-pastoral and industrial activities. The wetlands also, in Rwanda are
generally used for agricultural and pastoral purposes, quarrying, construction
and trading purposes. They are generally mismanagement and used anarchical
without prior studies of the impact of the activities carried out on resources
and human health. Through analysis of the problems of wetlands in Rwanda shows
that the major threats affecting ecosystems are associated with agricultural
and pastoral activities, mining and quarrying, human settlements, lack of a
policy and legal framework, inadequate scientific and technical knowledge of
wetlands.
The environment policy points out that, fires also constitutes
a serious threat for wetlands and their biodiversity. Analysis of the state of
biodiversity carried out for the preparation of the National strategy on
biodiversity showed that man-made activities were the most numerous and most
harmful to biodiversity. The principle man-made threats to biodiversity are
reflected through: poaching, pirating and illicit trade, uncontrolled
introduction of exotic species and overexploitation of biological resources,
according to MINITERE (2003:4)
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